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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2017 Feb 17;43(2):121-131.
doi: 10.1080/0092623X.2015.1124304. Epub 2016 Jan 6.

Women's Sex-Related Dissociation: The Effects of Alcohol Intoxication, Attentional Control Instructions, and History of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Elizabeth R Bird  1 , Amanda K Gilmore  2 , Cynthia A Stappenbeck  3 , Julia R Heiman  4 , Kelly Cue Davis  5 , Jeanette Norris  6 , William H George  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Women's Sex-Related Dissociation: The Effects of Alcohol Intoxication, Attentional Control Instructions, and History of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Elizabeth R Bird et al. J Sex Marital Ther. .

Abstract

This study examined influences of alcohol intoxication, attentional control, and childhood sexual abuse (CSA) severity on sex-related dissociation. Sex-related dissociation is defined here as dissociation (e.g., feeling as if the world is unreal and feeling disconnected from one's body) during sexual activity or in the presence of sexual stimuli. Women (N = 70) were randomized to a 2 (alcohol condition: none,.10% peak breath alcohol concentration) X 2 (attentional control instructions: none, "relax and maximize" sexual arousal) experiment and exposed to sexual stimuli. Alcohol intoxication was positively associated with sex-related dissociation. CSA severity and sex-related dissociation were positively associated in the no-instruction condition but not in the "relax and maximize" condition. For some women, efforts to relax and maximize sexual arousal may buffer the association between CSA and sex-related dissociation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Simple slopes plot illustrating the relationship between sex-related dissociation and CSA for Relax and Maximize and No Instruction groups (Instructions). Asterisk indicates that slope was significantly different from 0, p < .05. Instruction conditions were treated as moderators of the continuous measure of CSA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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