The Relationship between Negative Mood and Sexuality in Heterosexual Women

Abstract

Although negative mood is generally assumed to have negative effects on sexuality, little research has systematically examined this assumption and what has been done has focused almost exclusively on men. Two recent studies (Bancroft, Janssen, Strong, Carnes, Vukadinovic, & Long, 2003; Bancroft, Janssen, Strong, & Vukadinovic, 2003) found considerable individual variability in how negative mood affects sexual interest and response in gay and straight men. Although the majority of respondents indicated that negative mood either had negative or no effects on their sexuality, a substantial minority reported an increase in sexual interest and response. There are a number of reasons to expect that the relationship between negative mood and sexuality as well as its determinants will be different in women. For example, women show higher rates of depression than men, and many women experience menstrual cycle and pregnancy-related fluctuations in mood. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between negative mood and sexuality in a nonclinical sample of women and to explore potential predictors of this relationship, such as age, propensity for anxiety (STAI) and depression (ZDPR), and sexual inhibition and excitation proneness (SIS/SES). A secondary aim was to compare this female sample with a nonclinical sample of heterosexual men.