Abstract
Sexual behavior augments human experience, allowing people to express affection, develop intimate bonds and interpersonal relationships, and experience pleasure. Sexual behavior can also have unwanted consequences, such as sexually transmitted infections or unintended pregnancy. Researchers often assess sexual behavior to learn more about how it enhances the human experience and to understand conditions under which sexual behavior leads to unwanted consequences. Such assessments can be challenging because sexual behavior typically occurs in private, at the dyadic level, and it is often a stigmatized and culturally sensitive subject. Researcher often rely on self-reports, which are vulnerable to cognitive (e.g., memory) and social (e.g., self-presentation) biases. Research has investigated how best to assess sexual behavior to optimize accurate and reliable self-reports, which are critical to improving sexual functioning, reducing sexually transmitted infections, and informing public policy decisions. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of measuring sexual behaviors, review assessment modes and measures, and present challenges to sexual assessment. Although we focus primarily on retrospective methods of assessment, we also present contemporaneous assessments methods. Finally, we offer recommendations for improving sexual behavior assessment in future research.
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Acknowledgments
Funding: The preparation of this chapter was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grants to Seth C. Kalichman (R01-MH71164) and Michael P. Carey (R01-MH068171).
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Scott-Sheldon, L.A., Kalichman, S.C., Carey, M.P. (2010). Assessment of Sexual Behavior. In: Steptoe, A. (eds) Handbook of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09488-5_5
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