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Incompetence Schemas and Sexual Functioning in Heterosexual and Lesbian Women: The Mediator Role of Automatic Thoughts and Affective States During Sexual Activity

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Abstract

Incompetence schemas, automatic thoughts and affective states have been described as maintenance factors for female sexual dysfunction. However, studies have been conducted only with heterosexual samples. Current study aims to analyze the mediator role of automatic thoughts and state affect during sexual activity in the relationship between incompetence schemas and sexual functioning, in women with different sexual orientations. Participants completed the Questionnaire of Cognitive Schemas Activation in Sexual Context, the Sexual Modes Questionnaire—Automatic Thoughts Subscale, the Positive Affect—Negative Affect Scale, and the Female Sexual Functioning Index. Seven-hundred and seventy-five women (593 heterosexuals; 182 lesbian) completed an online survey assessing cognitive factors and sexual functioning. Structural equation modeling was performed for both samples, separately. For the heterosexual sample, failure thoughts, lack of erotic thoughts, positive affect, and negative affect were found to be mediators. For the lesbian sample, sexual abuse thoughts, failure thoughts, lack of erotic thoughts, and positive affect were found to be mediators. Overall, failure thoughts, lack of erotic thoughts and positive affect during sexual activity significantly mediated the relationship between incompetence schemas and female sexual functioning. The findings support the cognitive model and emphasize the core role of cognitive and affective factors in predicting sexual functioning in both lesbian and heterosexual women.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Reference: SFRH/BD/72919/2010). This study was also part of a Ph.D. developed at Faculty of Psychology and Education Science, University of Porto. The first author of this study is now being supported by a research fellowship at the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Maria Manuela Peixoto

  2. Center for Psychology at University of Porto, Faculty of Psychology and Education Science, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Pedro Nobre

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  1. Maria Manuela Peixoto
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  2. Pedro Nobre
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Correspondence to Maria Manuela Peixoto.

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Maria Manuela Peixoto and Pedro Nobre declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (national and institutional). Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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No animal studies were carried out by the authors for this article.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Peixoto, M.M., Nobre, P. Incompetence Schemas and Sexual Functioning in Heterosexual and Lesbian Women: The Mediator Role of Automatic Thoughts and Affective States During Sexual Activity. Cogn Ther Res 41, 304–312 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-016-9811-z

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