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As primary influences in children's sexual socialization, parents have the potential to help children develop psychological sexual well-being as they model and discuss sexuality together. Based on social cognitive theory, this study examined the understudied relationship between perceived quality of parent–child sexual communication (PCSC) about sensitive, value, and risk topics and measures of psychological sexual well-being (sexual self-concept and sexual subjectivity) in a sample of 278 U.S. undergraduate college students. Results of a path analysis showed that higher perceived quality of PCSC about sensitive topics (e.g., sexual pleasure, masturbation) was associated with increased sexual self-efficacy, body esteem, sexual assertiveness, and sexual self-esteem. Higher perceived quality of PCSC about values (e.g., monogamy, abstinence) was associated with increased entitlement to partner pleasure and decreased sexual self-efficacy and entitlement to self-pleasure. Perceived quality of PCSC about risk (e.g., sexually transmitted diseases [STDs], condom use) was not significantly associated with any measure of psychological sexual well-being. Findings from this study have important implications for sexual education programs, including informing parent education and the importance of including discussion of psychological sexual well-being in programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents have a critical role to play in the sexual education of their children. We conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the experiences of parents regarding the role they play in the sexual education of their children. We included qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies conducted among parents in Europe. We searched PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus, and screened 20,244 unique records. Forty-nine studies enrolling 18,083 unique parents met inclusion criteria. The studies show that parents have ideals regarding the sexual education of their children that center around the importance of trust, open conversations, and honesty. However, challenges and concerns, related to parents' and children's gender, children's age, children's specific situations, and limited parental knowledge and communication skills prevented them from living up to these ideals. Parents pointed to the role of other institutions as ways to support and strengthen parents' contributions to the sexual development of their children. We conclude that parents may require guidance and support to identify what is appropriate sexual education for their children, based on age, gender, and other characteristics, how to provide appropriate sexual education, and to strengthen their sexual communication skills and knowledge of contemporary sexual health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communicating verbally about sexual topics is one aspect of sexual communication, and romantic partners have to choose whether to disclose sexual information. The present study used conversational goals – what one hopes to accomplish in the conversation – to examine how people decide whether or not to engage in sexual self-disclosure. In an online survey, romantically involved participants (n = 428) provided data on four conversational goals (instrumental, impression management, identity, and relational), disclosure efficacy, disclosure anxiety, and likelihood to sexually self-disclose. Mediation model results indicated that the instrumental goal was directly associated with greater likelihood to disclose while the impression management goal was directly associated with less likelihood to disclose. The instrumental, impression management, and relational goals were indirectly connected with the likelihood to sexually self-disclose as mediated by disclosure efficacy and anxiety. The results highlight the importance of considering conversational goals perspectives when studying communication about taboo topics. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although frequent and open parent–child sexual communication (PCSC) has been shown to yield positive effects on adolescent sexual health outcomes, most PCSC is one-sided and parent dominated rather than ideal communication characterized by openness. Adolescent children's disclosure of sexual feelings and behaviors to parents can prompt parent–child sexual communication (PCSC) and help parents tailor PCSC to children's needs, increasing the effectiveness of PCSC in promoting positive sexual outcomes. However, very little work has been done exploring correlates of adolescent disclosure about sexuality. Thus, the current study explored the associations between frequent PCSC and child disclosure and secret keeping, and whether open PCSC moderated the relationships. The sample included 603 mother–child dyads from the United States. Adolescent children were 12–17 years old (M = 14.55, SD = 1.68), White (55.6%) and cisgender female (49.8%). A common-fate SEM model revealed that PCSC frequency was positively associated with adolescent disclosure and adolescent secret keeping. However, when PCSC was open, PCSC frequency was associated with a decrease in adolescent secret keeping and an increase in adolescent disclosure. We discuss the importance of encouraging both open and frequent PCSC, as their interaction is related to increased adolescent disclosure and less adolescent secret keeping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of peers in adolescents' sexual behaviors is not yet fully understood. We investigated the association between sexual communication with friends (at T1) and subsequent changes in adolescents' experience with sexual behaviors (between T1–T3), and examined whether this association was explained by adolescents' perceptions of three sexual peer norms (at T2): (1) peers' sexual behaviors (descriptive norms), (2) peers' approval of sexual behaviors (injunctive norms), and (3) peer pressure to have sex. The data source was Project STARS, a longitudinal study on adolescent sexual development in the Netherlands, collected via online self-report questionnaires from 1,116 adolescents (11.5–17.9 years). Adolescents who communicated more frequently with their friends about sexuality-related topics at T1 reported significantly larger increases in their experience with different sexual behaviors between T1–T3. More sexual communication with friends also predicted adolescents subsequently perceiving more 1) peer sexual behaviors, 2) peer approval of sex, and 3) peer pressure to have sex. These stronger perceptions, in turn, predicted larger increases in their sexual behaviors between T1–T3. After adjusting for the three norms simultaneously, the main association between sexual communication with friends and sexual behavior change weakened but remained significant. Inspection of specific indirect effects showed this link was explained by injunctive norms only. No gender differences were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on sexual consent has increased in recent years, but we know almost nothing about how beliefs about consent are socialized during adolescence, which likely has important implications for behaviors related to obtaining sexual consent. The current study explored the frequency of parent–adolescent consent communication, as well as demographic, adolescent, and parent predictors of adolescents' beliefs about the importance of consent and the frequency of parent–adolescent consent communication. Two national samples were used, one consisting of 2,044 adolescents, ages 13 to 18 (Mage = 16.19, SD = 1.71; 50% female), and a second sample of 2,081 nonrelated individuals, ages 28 to 81, who were parents of teens ages 13–18 (Mage = 15.25, SD = 1.56). Findings suggested that parents did not talk about sexual consent any more than they did about other sexual topics (e.g., reproduction). We also found that maternal warmth was positively associated with adolescents' importance of consent beliefs and that adolescents' uninhibited temperament and parents' self-efficacy and sexual beliefs were associated with parent–adolescent consent communication. The discussion focuses on the need to educate parents so they feel more confident talking to adolescents about the importance of giving and receiving sexual consent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affirmative sexual consent, which is ongoing, continuous, and clearly communicated, appears to be highly inconsistent with the way in which individuals actually negotiate their sexual interactions. The current qualitative research proposes an Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model of sexual consent behavior and elicits, from young, sexually active informants, elements of information, motivation, and behavioral skills that appear to be necessary for engaging in affirmative consent behaviors. Eleven focus groups were conducted (N = 48 participants), which were semi-structured and guided by questions to tap into information, motivation, and behavioral skills aspects of ascertaining and expressing affirmative sexual consent. Two themes related to Information emerged from the data: (1) consent should be verbal, clear, and ongoing, and (2) consent should be natural and free-flowing. Two themes related to motivation were discussed: (1) affirmative consent is awkward, and (2) explicitly asking for consent can be good, but ascertaining consent indirectly is more comfortable. One theme related to behavioral skills was discussed: (1) social and personal factors influence how easy or hard it is to explicitly discuss consent to sexual activity. Understanding factors that influence affirmative sexual consent is an essential step toward developing interventions to promote consensual sexual interactions and explicit sexual communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated youth's self-reported socio-sexual competences (esteem, assertiveness, control, communication) within their most recent sexual partnerships, and explored disparities in these competences between romantic versus casual sexual partnerships, including age and gender differences therein. Data were used from 6,098 Dutch adolescents and young adults (12.1–26.1 years), who participated in a national study on sexual health. Results indicated that being in love and sexual activity frequency were significant confounders for the associations between sexual partnership typology and youth's socio-sexual competence levels. After controlling for confounding relationship characteristics and sociodemographics, no differences were found between sexual partnership types in youth's sexual esteem, assertiveness, and control. However, romantic sexual partnerships were characterized by more frequent sexual communication than casual sexual partnerships. This pattern was gender-consistent, but for young adults, this difference in sexual communication across sexual partnership types was larger than for adolescents. Our findings emphasize that considering the relationship context (e.g., romantic, casual) for the development, utilization, and evaluation of young people's socio-sexual competences – particularly sexual communication – is a vital task for parents, educators, clinicians, and researchers. Individual (person-centered) versus relational (dyad-centered) differences in youth's socio-sexual competences require further exploration, as does the link between socio-sexual competences and sexual health and satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of what is known about father-child sexual communication is based on studies conducted in North America and more research into under-represented groups is needed. Our exploratory study therefore investigated sexual communication within father-son dyads belonging to a minority group in South Africa. We used a qualitative research design, and a total of 30 in-depth individual interviews were conducted with the members of 15 father-young adult son dyads. Thematic analysis of the data indicated that although both fathers and sons believed that fathers have an important role to play in the sex education of sons, the sexual communication in these dyads were mostly indirect, singular, and father-centered warnings, jokes or speeches. The men in our study would therefore benefit from interventions that equip them with knowledge and skills to function as more effective sexual communicators and educators. Furthermore, we found that limiting hegemonic masculinity ideas underpinned father-son sexual communication, which implies that interventions to empower fathers as effective sex communicators should also challenge and expand ideas and practices involving masculinity and fatherhood. We also identified context-specific issues (e.g., being mindful of how the idea of explicit sexual communication fits with local constructions of respectful father-son relationships) that need to be attended to in such interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the literature on parent-child sexual communication among adolescent girls is robust overall, research that is specifically focused on communication between fathers and daughters is more limited. Further, there have been calls for work on parent-child sexual communication to be situated within a multi-factorial conceptual framework that distinguishes between different communication components, such as the communication source, content, frequency, quality, and timing. Using such a framework, this study examined aspects of father-daughter sexual communication as they compare to mother-daughter communication in a diverse sample of 193 girls (Mage = 15.62). Results highlighted several gaps between father-daughter and mother-daughter communication. Girls reported covering less content and communicating less frequently about sexual topics with their fathers compared to their mothers. Girls also reported being less comfortable communicating and found their discussions to be less helpful with fathers than mothers. Girls were also less likely to report communicating with fathers about sexual topics before their sexual debut than with mothers. No significant differences were found in communication style (i.e., conversational or like a lecture) between fathers or mothers. Results highlight the importance of understanding the multifaceted process of parent-child communication and signal the need for targeted intervention efforts to improve upon father-daughter communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public expressions of sexual intimacy have often been subject to moral censure and legal regulation in modern India. While there is literature that analyzes the cultural‐political logics of censorship and sexual illiberalism in India, the discourses of sympathy towards public displays of intimacy has not received as much critical attention. In this paper, I take the case of one representative discursive space offered by a popular English newspaper and show how the figure of the 'kissing couple' became an important entity in larger discussions about the state of urban development, the role of pleasure in the city, and the imagination of a "modern" Mumbai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on the use of either implicit or explicit sexual imagery in advertising has focused mainly on factors such as the gender of the receiver the product advertised (sexually or non-sexually related), and the type of stimulus presented (double entendre, decorative models, and nudity). Many of the relevant studies have focused on lower-order cognitive processes such as recall and/or recognition. Few, if any at all, examine the higher-order cognitive processes underlying reactions to sexually explicit material. The present study examines the role of visually explicit sexual stimuli in the processing of verbal information in a persuasive message, and the resulting effect on traditional outcome measures of recall, attitudes, and behavioral intentions, as well as higher-order cognitive response measures. In so doing, the study contributes to a greater understanding of sexual-and non-sexual appeals and how they are affected by information level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods study of emerging adults investigates the messages asserted to delay or abstain from sexual intercourse. Goals-plans-action theory and sexual script theory inform the investigation of 192 survey participants and 27 interview participants. Results confirm that when emerging adults aspire to abstain or delay from intercourse, they enact a sexual script that includes communicative actions taken to reach their goal during conversations. This study identifies phrases used to initiate a conversation, recommends the inclusion of a rationale, provides the primary and secondary goals that inform message construction, and shows three primary ways conversations unfold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates communication during the post-sex time interval (PSTI) and extends previous work on communication after sexual activity by testing a post-sex disclosures model (PSDM) using structural equation modeling (SEM). Two-hundred six individuals completed surveys after sexual activity regarding their communication behaviors during the PSTI. The results revealed that individuals who orgasmed assessed greater benefits/fewer risks to disclosing after sexual activity, and orgasm was indirectly associated with positive relational disclosures through risk-benefit assessments. However, positive relational disclosures after sexual activity were not predictive of relationship satisfaction. Rather, perceiving greater benefits/fewer risks to disclosing was associated with increased relationship satisfaction, and orgasm was indirectly related to relationship satisfaction through risk-benefit assessments. Together, these findings suggest that fundamental communication and relational processes occur after sexual activity and that assessments of the potential outcomes of post-sex communication have important effects on relationship well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents can play a vital role in shaping teenagers’ sexual attitudes, behavior, and contraceptive use through communication, however, less is known about how to modify parent-adolescent communication among youth with mental health problems. The impact of a family-based sexual risk prevention intervention on both observational and self-report of parent-adolescent sexual communication was examined at 12 months among adolescents with mental health problems. Of the 721 parent-adolescent dyads recruited for the study, 167 videotapes of sexual discussions between parents and adolescent were coded for the family-based intervention and 191 videotapes for the active comparison. Longitudinal analyses examined differences between conditions (family-based vs. comparison) in self-reported and observed parent-adolescent sexual discussions and also examined the impact of gender on intervention response. More parent I-statements, healthier parent body language, and fewer adolescent Negative Vocalizations were detected for family-based intervention participants 12 months after participating in the brief intervention (11 h of total intervention time) relative to those in the comparison condition. Parents in the family-based intervention also self-reported better sexual communication at 12 months. The current study provides supporting evidence that a relatively brief family-based intervention was successful at addressing parent-adolescent sexual communication among a mental health sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual self-disclosure is a critical component of relationship and sexual satisfaction, yet little is known about the mechanisms that facilitate a person's engagement in sexual self-disclosure. Individuals (N = 265) involved in romantic relationships participated in an online study testing a contextual model of sexual self-disclosure across three contexts: relationship context, sexual self-disclosure context, and outcome of sexual self-disclosure. Results suggest that sexual satisfaction was predicted by a positive relationship context and a positive sexual self-disclosure context. In addition, the sexual self-disclosure context was predicted by the relationship context. These findings emphasize the importance of examining contextual influences that determine whether an individual will engage in or avoid sexual self-disclosure and the consequences of this engagement or avoidance on sexual satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caregiver-adolescent communication about sex plays a critical role in the sexual socialization of youth. Many caregivers, however, do not engage their youth in such conversations, potentially placing them at risk for negative sexual health outcomes. Lack of caregiver-adolescent communication about sex may be particularly harmful for rural African American youth, as they often report early sex initiation and are disproportionately impacted by STIs. Moreover, sexual communication may be particularly challenging for families with strong religious backgrounds, potentially affecting the occurrence and breadth of topics covered during communication. Study aims were to: determine whether there was a relationship between caregiver religiosity and type of topics covered during communication about sex (e.g., general sexual health vs. positive aspects of sexuality) among 435 caregivers of early adolescent, African American youth; and if so, identify factors that might explain how religiosity affects communication about sex. Results indicated that caregiver religiosity was positively associated with communication about general, but not positive aspects of sexuality for caregivers of males. Attitudes towards communication about sex and open communication style mediated the relationship. There was no association between religiosity and communication about sex for caregivers of females. The findings from this study could provide a base to better understand and support the sexual socialization process within religious, African American families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on research in queer linguistics and linguistic scholarship on race in the media to examine the semiotic representation of race, gender, and sexuality in The Wire, often considered one of the most "authentic" media representations of Blackness. Based on an analysis of the entire series, the article argues that this authenticity effect is partly due to the show's complex African American characters, who reflect a range of gendered and sexual subjectivities. The analysis focuses on three queer Black characters on The Wire who are represented as both "authentically queer" in their social worlds and "authentically Black" in their language. However, the semiotic authenticity of the series is linked to its reification of familiar stereotypes of Blackness, especially hyper-violence and hypermasculinity. Thus, these characters both contest and complicate traditional representations of queerness and gender while reinforcing problematic representations of Blackness for its largely white, affluent target audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work in language and sexuality has emphasized globalization and multilingualism as important areas of investigation (Bucholtz & Hall 2006, Leap & Boellstorff 2003, Murray 2014). Concomitantly, other scholars have employed the construct of sexual fluidity as a metaphor for linguistic fluidity (Otsuji & Pennycook 2010, Pennycook & Otsuji 2015). Few studies, however, have examined how sexual and linguistic fluidity intersect in individual experience. This paper examines metalinguistic discourse in three fictional novels involving bisexual, bilingual characters in order to understand how talk about language informs representations of sexualities. In these texts bilingualism functions in constructing access to queer communities, authenticity, belonging, and emotional control for bisexual characters. Further, sexual and linguistic fluidity are portrayed as lifespan processes embedded in specific time periods. Such understandings point to a need for historical approaches to fluidity that capture longer timescales and multiple dimensions of linguistic and sexual desire, practice, and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the phonetic characteristics of speech performed in straight and gay styles by French males. Analysis considers features shown in other languages or in antecedent literature to be associated with perceptions of sexual identity: segmental quality (vowels, /s/, liquids), suprasegmental features (pitch, duration), and a number of language-specific variables. Results suggest that straight performances are characterized by decreased segmental duration and gay performances by differential use of vowel space, especially F2, nasal vowel duration, and fundamental frequency. A closing section provides comparison of these results to previous study and to other languages, while also addressing epistemological concerns raised by questions of identity, performance, and linguistic form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, parental romantic expectations, and parental provision of sexuality and relationship education in an online sample of 190 parents of youth 12–18 years of age with a parent-reported diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Regression analyses were conducted separately for youth with autism spectrum disorder + parent-reported average or above IQ and youth with autism spectrum disorder + parent-reported below average IQ. For youth with autism spectrum disorder + parent-reported average or above IQ, autism spectrum disorder severity predicted parental romantic expectations, but not parental provision of sexuality and relationship education. For youth with autism spectrum disorder + parent-reported below average IQ, parental romantic expectations mediated the relationship between autism spectrum disorder severity and parent provision of sexuality and relationship education. This supports the importance of carefully considering intellectual functioning in autism spectrum disorder sexuality research and suggests that acknowledging and addressing parent expectations may be important for parent-focused sexuality and relationship education interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When leaning forward to kiss to a romantic partner, individuals tend to direct their kiss to the right more often than the left. Studies have consistently demonstrated this kissing asymmetry, although other factors known to influence lateral biases, such as sex or situational context, had yet to be explored. The primary purpose of our study was to investigate if turning direction was consistent between a romantic (parent–parent) and parental (parent–child) kissing context, and secondly, to examine if sex differences influenced turning bias between parent–child kissing partners. An archival analysis coded the direction of turning bias for 161 images of romantic kissing (mothers kissing fathers) and 529 images of parental kissing (mothers or fathers kissing sons or daughters). The results indicated that the direction of turning bias differed between kissing contexts. As expected, a right-turn bias was observed for romantic kissing; however, a left-turn bias was exhibited for parental kissing. There was no significant difference of turning bias between any parent–child kissing partners. Interpretations for the left-turn bias discuss parental kissing as a learned lateral behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Unlabelled: Background Ample evidence shows that partner sexual communication is related to condom use. Although communication about safer sex may often occur when sexual arousal is high, no studies have examined arousability, one's propensity for sexual arousal and partner sexual communication. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between sexual arousability and partner-related mediators of condom use among African American female adolescents, who have disproportionate risk for HIV and sexually transmissible infections (STIs).Methods: The study analysed self-reported baseline data from 701 African American females aged 14-20 years participating in a HIV/STI trial. Linear regression models examined associations between arousability and partner-related mediators of condom use (partner sexual communication self-efficacy, partner sexual communication frequency, sex refusal self-efficacy and condom use self-efficacy), controlling for age, impulsivity and relationship power.Results: Greater arousability was significantly associated with reduced levels of each partner communication outcome assessed (partner sexual communication self-efficacy, partner sexual communication frequency and sex refusal self-efficacy) but was not associated with condom use self-efficacy.Conclusions: Arousal and other positive aspects of sex have largely been ignored by HIV/STI prevention efforts, which primarily focus on individual behaviour. A population-level sexual health approach focusing on sexual wellbeing may reduce stigma, facilitate partner sexual communication and be more effective at reducing HIV/STI rates than traditional approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the legal history of the sections 2257 and 2257 A and its implementation on private adult sexual communication. Topics discussed include implementation of these provisions for imposing penalties for non-compliance, role of these provisions in preventing the creation and dissemination of child pornography, and relationship of private sexual communication and sexting with the traditional First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In this chapter, we present conjoined models of parent-child sexual communication. These models rely on communication privacy management theory to show how sexual information is contained within individual privacy boundaries and shared when a question is asked. Information is revealed in little bits and pieces over the course of a child's development. Privacy boundary permeability opens, and the circumference of privacy boundaries expands over time. During a specific interaction, parents and children regulate how much information they share. These models apply to parent-child relationships where sexual communication is accomplished, recognizing that many parents and children never or rarely talk about sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All animals harbor beneficial microbes. One way these microbes can benefit their animal hosts is by increasing the diversity and efficacy of communication signals available to the hosts. The fermentation hypothesis for mammalian chemical communication posits that bacteria in the scent glands of mammals generate odorous metabolites used by their hosts for communication and that variation in host chemical signals is a product of underlying variation in the bacterial communities inhabiting the scent glands. An effective test of this hypothesis would require accurate surveys of the bacterial communities in mammals' scent glands and complementary data on the odorant profiles of scent secretions—both of which have been historically lacking. Here we use next-generation sequencing to survey deeply the bacterial communities in the scent glands of wild spotted and striped hyenas. We show that these communities are dominated by fermentative bacteria and that the structures of these communities covary with the volatile fatty acid profiles of scent secretions in both hyena species. The bacterial and volatile fatty acid profiles of secretions differ between spotted and striped hyenas, and both profiles vary with sex and reproductive state among spotted hyenas within a single social group. Our results strongly support the fermentation hypothesis for chemical communication, suggesting that symbiotic bacteria underlie species-specific odors in both spotted and striped hyenas and further underlie sex and reproductive state-specific odors among spotted hyenas. We anticipate that the fermentation hypothesis for chemical communication will prove broadly applicable among scent-marking mammals as others use the technical and analytical approaches used here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on women who claim to simultaneously love more than one man and analyzes the stakes associated with the way a woman communicates with certain or all of her partners. Topics of discussion include the impact of extra-dyadic relationships, or non-monogamous relationships, on contemporary sexual and emotional relationships, women sharing information to strengthen or distance themselves from a relationship, and establishing long-term multi-partner relationships.

Controversial media representations of the female body can reflect, reproduce, and even challenge ideological systems or Discourses (Jones, 2003; Louw, 2001). This article interrogates the discourse surrounding TIME Magazine's recent cover regarding attachment parenting, which featured a mother breastfeeding her toddler. The analysis of 1 online comment board shows that, although multiple meanings were present, the talk regarding the cover was overwhelmingly informed by the Discourse of (Hetero)Sexuality, which defines breastfeeding as a sexualized act only appropriate in private and for children of a certain age. This backdrop of sexuality for breastfeeding is significant not only for mothers’ choices and practices regarding nursing, but also for policymakers who seek to support breastfeeding. In addition, the findings reinforce the importance of attending to the interrelations within and between macro- and microlevels of discourse in investigating symbolic systems through which meanings are constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the most read online articles during this U.S. presidential election year, which are mostly related to political communication, including an article on the college studnets' use of online media for political decision making in 2008, an article on agenda setting, prining and framing effects of political communication, and articles examining some aspect of sex or sexuality.

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This study describes sexual communication among Thai parents and their teens and identifies variables related to communication about sex in urban Thai families. Data were derived from 420 families whose teenage children ages 13–14 years were randomly selected using the probability proportional to size technique. Interviews were conducted with 1 parent and 1 teenage child in each family. In-depth interviews were also conducted in 30 parents and teens drawn from the same 420 families. Results showed that parents were most likely to talk with their teens about body changes and dating; however, less discussion about sex-related issues, birth control, and HIV/AIDS occurred. More daughters than sons reported frequent discussions with their parents about sex. Parents who believed their teens had been involved in sexual activity were more likely to talk about HIV/AIDS and the difficulty of teenagers having babies, instead of talking about sexual intercourse or when to start having sex. Multiple regression analysis indicated that gender of the child (female), parental religiosity, and parental perception of teen sexual activity were significant predictors of increased sexual communication in Thai families. The findings suggest a need for approaches designed to facilitate communication skills about sex-related issues among Thai parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better understand relational dissatisfaction and duration oflong-term married couples, this study surveyed 30 couples married at least 40 years with the Marital Satisfaction Jnventcny. Findings suggest various areas ofdissatisfaction (e.g., affective communication, conflict over chili rearing) and relationship among and link to other areas ofdissatisfaction (e.g., finances, sex). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Advances in communication technology may affect networking pattern, thereby influencing the dynamics of sex partnership. The aim of the study is to explore the impacts of partner sourcing through internet and related channels on exposure risk to sexually transmitted infections (STI) including HIV. Methods: Using venue-based sampling, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted at saunas frequented by men having sex with men (MSM) in Hong Kong. Comparison was made between MSM sourcing partners through physical venues alone versus concomitant users of physical and virtual channels, the latter referring to internet and smart-phone applications, using bivariate logistic regression. Results: Over a 7-week study period, 299 MSM were recruited from 9 saunas. Three main types of sex partners were distinguished: steady (46.8%), regular (26.4%) and casual (96.0%) partners. Users of sauna (n = 78) were compared with concomitant users of saunas and virtual channels (n = 179) for partner sourcing. Sauna-visiting virtual channel users were younger and inclined to use selected physical venues for sourcing partners. Smart-phone users (n = 90) were not different from other internet-users in terms of age, education level and single/mixed self-identified body appearance. Classifying respondents into high risk and low risk MSM by their frequency of condom use, concomitant use of both sauna and virtual channels accounted for a higher proportion in the high risk category (71.6% vs. 58.2%, OR = 1.81, p<0.05). In virtual channel users, partner sourcing through smart-phone was not associated with a higher practice of unprotected sex. Conclusion: MSM sauna customers commonly use virtual channels for sex partner sourcing. Unprotected sex is more prevalent in sauna customers who use virtual channel for sex partner sourcing. While the popularity of smart-phone is rising, its use is not associated with increased behavioural risk for HIV/STI transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty self-identified Black women ages 19 to 22 recalled the content and emotional tone of conversations about sex they had with their mothers. A majority of participants did not recall a sustained conversation about sex. Rather, they recollected fragmented, random, and often context-free comments their mothers made about sex. Three themes emerged from analysis of interviews: (a) negative messages, (b) feelings of discomfort, and (c) mother as role model. In addition, a minority of participants who experienced open and honest mother–daughter sex talk reported it had benefited them, whereas daughters who did not experience rich mother–daughter sex talk wished they had and believed it would have made them stronger women and enhanced closeness with their mothers. Standpoint theory offers insight into why many Black mothers might find sex talk uncomfortable and might warn daughters of negative aspects of sex while not mentioning positive aspects. These findings suggest that more sustained and open communication about sex could strengthen relationships between Black mothers and daughters and decrease Black women's negative health consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we develop a signaling model of rational lovemaking. In the act of lovemaking, a man and a woman send each other possibly deceptive signals about their true state of ecstasy. For example, if one of the partners is not in ecstasy, then he or she may decide to fake it. The model predicts that (1) a higher cost of faking lowers the probability of faking; (2) middle-aged and old men are more likely to fake than young men; (3) young and old women are more likely to fake than middle-aged women; and (4) love, formally defined as a mixture of altruism and demand for togetherness, increases the likelihood of faking. The predictions are tested with data from the 2000 Orgasm Survey. Besides supporting the model's predictions, the data also reveal an interesting positive relationship between education and the tendency to fake in both men and women. ( JEL D82, J16) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]