The Journal of Sex Research ISSN: 0022-4499 (Print) 1559-8519 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hjsr20 What Does Sexual Arousal Mean to You? Women With and Without Sexual Arousal Concerns Describe Their Experiences Ariel B. Handy, Amelia M. Stanton & Cindy M. Meston To cite this article: Ariel B. Handy, Amelia M. Stanton & Cindy M. Meston (2018): What Does Sexual Arousal Mean to You? Women With and Without Sexual Arousal Concerns Describe Their Experiences, The Journal of Sex Research, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2018.1468867 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2018.1468867 Published online: 10 May 2018. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 25 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=hjsr20 THE JOURNAL OF SEX RESEARCH,00(00), 1–11, 2018 Copyright © The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality ISSN: 0022-4499 print/1559-8519 online DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2018.1468867 What Does Sexual Arousal Mean to You? Women With and Without Sexual Arousal Concerns Describe Their Experiences Ariel B. Handy, Amelia M. Stanton, and Cindy M. Meston Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin Sexual arousal is frequently characterized by both subjective (i.e., mental) and physiological (e.g., genital) components. The nuances of these components, however, are difficult to capture via self-report instruments. Asking women to describe sexual arousal in their own words may therefore enhance our understanding of this construct. In the present study, women with (n = 190) and without (n = 610) arousal concerns were recruited online and wrote about their experience of sexual arousal. Seven clusters of words were extracted using automated text analysis, and the prominence of these clusters was compared between groups of women. The autonomic arousal cluster differed between groups such that women with arousal concerns invoked this cluster significantly less than did women with no such concerns. Furthermore, the context cluster significantly predicted group membership (odds ratio [OR] = 1.063); greater scores on this cluster were associated with arousal concerns. Results suggest that autonomic arousal and relationship factors may play important roles in arousal concerns. It is suggested that clinicians assess for aspects of the sexual relationship that may facilitate or hinder sexual arousal. Clinicians may also consider inquiring about the presence or appraisal of autonomic arousal (e.g., one’s interpretation of an increase in heart rate or respiration) during sexual activity. Sexual arousal is frequently characterized as having both possible situations that could be used as prompts. When subjective (i.e., mental) and physiological components prompted, women commonly described sexual arousal as (Basson, 2015). Subjective arousal is commonly conceptua- being either physical (e.g., tingling), cognitive (e.g., nervous- lized as being mentally “turned on” or positively engaged in ness), or behavioral (e.g., sighing) in nature. Though the one’s mind (Althof et al., 2017), whereas physiological moderated focus group design undoubtedly helped partici- arousal typically incorporates both genital (e.g., lubrication) pants formulate their conceptualizations of arousal, a potential and extragenital (e.g., breast sensitivity, increased heart rate) limitation to this design is the degree to which the format and experiences. Though researchers use the terms subjective the exposure to other group members’ opinions may have and physiological to refer to these two components of influenced women’s responses. In the present study, we arousal, a paucity of research has explored women’s own aimed to build on our existing knowledge of the ways in conceptualizations of this topic. To address this, the present which women conceptualize sexual arousal by asking partici- study examined written descriptions of sexual arousal in a pants to write about arousal and then using this participant- sample of women with and without sexual arousal concerns. driven data to extract clusters of words that appeared in the Prior research has examined the factors that influence sex- essays. ual arousal (Graham, Sanders, Milhausen, & McBride, 2004) Understanding women’s perceptions of sexual arousal is and the overlap between sexual desire and arousal (Brotto, important for several reasons. First, if researchers are aware Heiman, & Tolman, 2009; Mitchell, Wellings, & Graham, of the complexities of women’s perceptions and experiences 2014). In one such study, women in a series of focus groups of sexual arousal, then they will be able to improve existing were asked to discuss various cues for sexual arousal, high- psychometric tools that measure sexual arousal. In a labora- light factors that excite or inhibit sexual arousal, and describe tory setting, the subjective experience of sexual arousal is the relationship between sexual arousal and sexual desire frequently assessed with a questionnaire administered to (Graham et al., 2004). The focus group moderators utilized a participants before and after an erotic film. To reduce parti- discussion guide that included specific questions and a list of cipant burden, these questionnaires are often short, with subscales comprising three to five items. The most com- monly used questionnaire (known as the Film Scale; Correspondence should be addressed to Cindy M. Meston, University Heiman & Rowland, 1983) includes three subscales: auto- of Texas at Austin, Department of Psychology, 108 East Dean Keeton nomic arousal, genital arousal, and subjective arousal. The Street, Stop A8000, Austin, TX 78712. E-mail: [email protected] WHAT DOES SEXUAL AROUSAL MEAN TO YOU? autonomic and genital arousal subscales have five items type of data differs from traditional analyses of self-report each, and the subjective arousal subscale has three. measures in that natural language is purely inductive. Though the brevity of this scale facilitates the measure’s Participants write down only what is personally meaningful, utility, it likely takes away from the scale’s ability to capture then computerized language-processing techniques, such as the more subtle nuances of sexual arousal. the meaning extraction method (MEM), calculate the degree There is also a clinical need to explore women’s experi- to which words cluster together (Chung & Pennebaker, 2008). ences of sexual arousal, as it is important for clinicians to These semantic clusters represent collections of words that know how to describe the various components of arousal in commonly co-occur across a large corpus (e.g., across many ways that will resonate with their clients. This is particularly natural language samples that pertain to a specific topic or relevant given the recent elimination of hypoactive sexual construct). Differences in invocation of these clusters can be desire disorder and female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) observed across groups and over time, offering insights on and creation of a single diagnosis (female sexual interest/ domains such as personality (Yarkoni, 2010), core values arousal disorder [FSIAD]) in the newest edition of the (Boyd et al., 2015 ), and sexual self-schemas (Stanton, Boyd, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Pulverman, & Meston, 2015). (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). While there The analysis of written language data may be particularly were many reasons for this diagnostic change, one is that suitable for research on sex and sexuality. Tourangeau and researchers, clinicians, and clients may define sexual desire Yan (2007) suggested that self-administered (e.g., question- differently (e.g., Brotto, 2010). Language selection clearly naire) methods of data collection, as opposed to interviewer- has real-world implications, and it is critical that clinicians administered methods, may be particularly beneficial when know when it is appropriate to diagnose a sexual disorder inquiring about sensitive topics, such as sexual behaviors or based on their clients’ self-reported concerns. illicit drug use. Specifically, they found that studies imple- Women’s experiences of sexual arousal vary, and these menting both methods of data collection consistently found differences may be most apparent among women with dif- greater endorsement of sensitive topics in self-administered ferent levels of sexual function. Indeed, Sand and Fisher questionnaires. Based on the findings from Tourangeau and (2007) found that sexual function played a role in women’s Yan (2007), if women are asked to write freely about their conceptualizations of the sexual response cycle. In this sexuality in a private setting, they may reveal information study, a random sample of 580 registered nurses completed that they would otherwise have concealed in an interview. the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI; Rosen et al., We believe that applying the MEM to paragraphs written 2000). They were then provided with descriptions of three by women detailing their unique experiences of sexual models of sexual response: those of Masters and Johnson arousal could provide meaningful and ecologically valid (1966), Kaplan (1977), and Basson (2002). Participants information about women’s sexual arousal. From these writ- were instructed to select the model that they felt best ing samples, we sought to extract semantic clusters that will described their own sexual experiences. Though all three help build a comprehensive