ABSTRACT

Many young adults report poor sexual function, but research typically fails to consider relationship context and how problems might evolve over time. Research is needed to provide insights into how sexual problems are experienced across relationships, as well as the types of sexual function problems associated with various trajectories. We investigated retrospective trajectories of sexual problems across the multiple relationships of 688 young adults (18–24 years) as well as the individual and relationship factors associated with these trajectories. Both persistent suboptimal and optimal trajectories emerged for men and women. However, persistent and variable problematic function trajectories also emerged for women (and not men). Across all individual and relationship factors analyzed, multivariate multinomial regression analysis indicated that higher sexual esteem and more traditional gender beliefs best predicted membership in trajectories capturing better sexual function. Implications are discussed in terms of the need to provide substantive information regarding sexual function to young people as they transition to adulthood.

摘要

许多年轻人报告性功能不佳，但研究通常没有考虑关系背景以及问题如何随着时间的推移而演变。需要研究以深入了解跨关系如何经历性问题，以及与各种轨迹相关的性功能问题的类型。我们调查了 688 名年轻人（18-24 岁）的多重关系中性问题的回顾性轨迹，以及与这些轨迹相关的个人和关系因素。男性和女性都出现了持续的次优和最优轨迹。然而，女性（而不是男性）也出现了持续和可变的有问题的功能轨迹。在分析的所有个人和关系因素中，多元多项回归分析表明，更高的性自尊和更传统的性别信仰最能预测捕捉更好性功能的轨迹中的成员资格。讨论了在向成年过渡时向年轻人提供有关性功能的实质性信息的必要性。