Gender differences in the content of cognitive distraction during sex

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2006 by Marta Meana, Sarah E. Nunnink

Measures

Participants completed a questionnaire packet consisting of a variety of sexuality measures of interest. A demographic background form containing questions regarding participants' age, racial background, and sexual status/relationship was administered. The measures used in the current study included the Cognitive Distraction Scale, the Global Sexual Functioning Score of the Sexual History Form (SHF), and the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI).

Cognitive Distraction Scale. Cognitive distraction as separated into two distinct areas of concern, appearance-and performance-based, was evaluated with the Cognitive Distraction Scale, developed by Dove and Wiederman (2000). The scale consists of 20 items inquiring about cognitive concerns during sex, 10 of which focus on appearance and 10 of which focus on performance. An example of an appearance-related item is, "If the lights are on during sexual activity, I worry too much about how appealing my body is to my partner." An example of a performance-related item is, "During sexual activity, I think too much about whether my partner is happy with the way I am touching his/her body." Each item is accompanied with a Likert-type scale, from 1(always) to 6(never). For ease of interpretation, all of the items were reverse-scored so that higher scores indicated higher levels of cognitive distraction. The range of scores for each of these scales is 10-60.

The internal consistency coefficient for both scales in Dove and Wiederman's (2000) sample was .95 for both scales, and the scales were highly related (r = .83). In our sample, the internal consistency coefficient was .94 for both scales, but they were not as highly related (r = .64). We conducted a principal components analysis with VARIMAX rotation on the cognitive distraction scale on our sample, and it yielded two separate factors. The first factor consisted of the appearance-based distraction items and had an eigenvalue of 10.82, accounting for 54.11% of the variance. The second factor consisted of the performance-based distraction items and had an eigenvalue of 2.35, accounting for 11.74% of the variance.

Global Sexual Functioning Score of the Sexual History Form. The Global Sexual Functioning Score is a single summary score extracted from the Sexual History Form (SHF) assessing sexual functioning (Creti et al., 1998). A global sexual functioning score that is calculated from the 46 SHF items results in a mean value that is greater than 0 and less than 1, with higher scores indicating more dysfunction. This scoring system has demonstrated good reliability, with temporal stability ranging from .92-.98 and internal consistency coefficients in the .50-.70 range. In terms of validity, the measure has demonstrated the ability to differentiate between sexually functional and dysfunctional males and females (Creti et al.).

Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI). To assess a variety of aspects of sexuality that have been theoretically linked to sexual function, the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI) was administered (Derogatis, 1975). The DSFI assesses the individual's current state of sexual functioning and is composed of 254 items arranged into 10 subsets. Comprehensive reliability and validity data for the DSFI scales were reported by Derogatis and Melisaratos (1979). Only eight of the subtests were administered in this study, including the following: Sexual Information, Experiences, Attitudes, Psychological Distress, Affect, Fantasy, Body Image, and Sexual Satisfaction.