Feature Channels: Sex and Relationships

• share
• favorite_border

Research suggests that having a happy spouse leads to a longer marriage, and now study results show that it's associated with a longer life, too.

• share
• favorite_border

When heterosexuals have casual sex, previous research indicates it is typically the woman who sets the boundaries. If she's not interested, usually nothing will happen.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Using information from two national surveys, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Guttmacher Institute have found that in some metropolitan areas, more than a quarter of young, African American men reported having sexual intercourse before age 13, and for about 45 percent of them, the sex was either unwanted or experienced with “mixed feelings.”

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time, researchers offer an up-close look at the clitoris of female dolphins along with insights on the potential for the animals to experience sexual pleasure.

• share
• favorite_border

A "big dating" analysis reveals geographic distance within the U.S. as the strongest driver of mutual romantic messaging.

• share
• favorite_border

Your decision-making style--whether you make a "good enough" choice or seek to make the "best" possible choice among all possible options--influences your satisfaction with your partner, according to a 3-year study of newlyweds.

• share
• favorite_border

A Washington State University researcher says attractive businesswomen are considered less trustworthy, less truthful and more worthy of being fired than less attractive women. This "femme fatale effect," as she and a University of Colorado colleague call it, goes beyond a commonly accepted explanation that attractive women simply aren't seen as fitting in traditionally masculine roles.

• share
• favorite_border

Older men tend to have lower biological age if they have higher levels of sex hormones, particularly the estradiol form of estrogen, a large new study from Australia finds. The study results will be presented on Sunday at ENDO 2019, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans, La., and appear online in the journal Clinical Endocrinology.

• share
• favorite_border

People who have trouble with romantic relationships may watch movies and TV shows for more than just a chance to escape from their lives for a bit. New research suggests that people with attachment issues are more likely than others to be engaged in the stories.

• share
• favorite_border

In the U.S. 3 to 4 million women are abused, and more than 1,500 are killed by their abusers each year. But how do we know who is at the greatest risk? Enter Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN and the Danger Assessment, a tool she created that helps to determine the likelihood an abused woman has of being killed by her current or ex intimate partner.

• share
• favorite_border

The 2019 Pittsburgh Women who Rock Award will be presented to Sharon L. Hillier, Ph.D., at the 3rd annual Women who Rock Benefit Concert Presented by UPMC Health Plan and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital on Thursday, May 30, at Stage AE. Dr. Hillier is professor and vice chair of the department of obstetrics

• share
• favorite_border

New research by scientists at the University of Nottingham suggests that environmental contaminants found in the home and diet have the same adverse effects on male fertility in both humans and in domestic dogs.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of Illinois College of Medicine find that TRPM8, long ago identified as a cold-temperature sensor, regulates aggressive and hypersexual behavior in response to testosterone

• share
• favorite_border

A team led by José Bauermeister, PhD, MPH, Presidential Professor of Nursing and Director of the Program on Sexuality, Technology, & Action Research (PSTAR), at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) designed the My Desires & Expectations (myDEx) tool to address cognitive and emotional factors that influence YGBMSM sexual decision-making when seeking partners online.

• share
• favorite_border

A longitudinal study led by Dr. Kristine Steffen, NDSU School of Pharmacy, shows patients undergoing bariatric surgery for obesity found the positive results of such surgery on sexual function may be longer lasting than previously known. The study included more than 2,000 patients at 10 hospitals in six clinical centers in the U.S.

• share
• favorite_border

MANHATTAN, KANSAS — Texting, FaceTime and other popular communication methods among teens may help build supportive parent-youth relationships after a divorce, according to a Kansas State University family studies researcher. Mindy Markham, associate professor and associate director for Kansas State University's School of Family Studies and Human Services; Jonathon Beckmeyer at Indiana University; and Jessica Troilo at West Virginia University recently published a study about parent-youth relationships after a divorce in the Journal of Family Issues.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and 52 other leading academic and professional societies announced the creation the Societies Consortium on Sexual Harassment in STEMM at a panel discussion during the AAAS Annual Meeting on February 15, 2019.

• share
• favorite_border

A woman whose boyfriend or husband regularly watches pornography is more likely to report symptoms of an eating disorder, new research suggests. In addition to finding an association between a partner’s porn habits and eating disorder symptoms, the research also found a higher incidence of those symptoms in women who said they feel pressure from their boyfriends or husbands to be thin.

• share
• favorite_border

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine’s Gunnur Karakurt, PhD has been awarded a four-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify effective treatments for intimate partner violence (IPV), and to develop a decision-making tool for care providers. The project involves analyzing national data to identify subgroups of people who respond similarly to specific IPV treatments. By combining findings with a meta-analysis of the literature and computer modeling, clinicians will be better able to choose between evidence-based treatments.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Valentine’s Day is almost here. If you’re stuck trying to find that perfect gift for your someone special, researchers at Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI) may have just the thing: a tagged female mako shark swimming off the coast of North Carolina who is looking for a name.

• share
• favorite_border

“One of the best things you can give your spouse is a compliment"

• share
• favorite_border

When couples play board games together or take a painting class with each other, their bodies release oxytocin — sometimes dubbed the “hugging hormone.” But men wielding paintbrushes released twice as much or more as the level of women painters and couples playing games, a Baylor University study found.

• share
• favorite_border

The key to relationship happiness could be as simple as finding a nice person. And, despite popular belief, sharing similar personalities may not be as important as most people think, according to new research from Michigan State University.

• share
• favorite_border

The pill could be blurring your social judgement - but perhaps not enough so you'd notice. By challenging women to identify complex emotional expressions like pride or contempt, rather than basic ones like happiness or fear, scientists have revealed subtle changes in emotion recognition associated with oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use. Published in Frontiers in Neuroscience

• share
• favorite_border

The quality of your marriage could be affected by your genes, according to new research conducted at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

• share
• favorite_border

Everyone has secrets, but what causes someone to think about them over and over again? People who feel shame about a secret, as opposed to guilt, are more likely to be consumed by thoughts of what they are hiding, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

It's long been known that couples HIV testing and counseling is an effective way to mutually disclose HIV status and link to health care––unfortunately, couples don't use it even though it's widely available.

• share
• favorite_border

A lot of what people believe about relationships isn't really backed up by science. In this video, Matt Johnson, professor of psychology at Binghamton University and author of "Great Myths of Intimate Relationships: Dating, Sex, and Marriage," breaks down some of the biggest myths about intimate relationships.

• share
• favorite_border

Spending time with people who are not preoccupied with their bodies can improve your own eating habits and body image, according to researchers from the University of Waterloo.

• share
• favorite_border

While there is much research on the LGBT community’s relationship with police, there is scant research on how they perceive police legitimacy and what predicts their willingness to obey, cooperate, and recognize police authority. A new study examines the relationship between fairness and perceived respect of the police-citizen encounter and willingness to recognize police authority among a historically marginalized population.

• share
• favorite_border

• First-of-its-kind study launched to examine the effects of personal networks on former NFL players’ health • Findings could inform health interventions to reduce risk • Short web-based survey provides personalized results and information for former players • Watch two videos that introduce the Personal Network Study

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

How we feel about ourselves and those we love depends in large part on the assumptions and expectations we hold about romantic relationships. It turns out that many of our beliefs about intimate relationships aren't backed up by science. Binghamton University psychology professor Matthew D. Johnson has debunked 25 of the biggest myths out there.

• share
• favorite_border

Many organisms including insects, amphibians and yeasts use sex pheromones for attracting individuals of the opposite sex, but what happens to sex pheromones as new species emerge? New research publishing January 22 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology from Taisuke Seike and Hironori Niki at the National Institute of Genetics, Japan and Chikashi Shimoda at Osaka City University, Japan studies sex pheromones in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, revealing an “asymmetric” pheromone recognition system in which one pheromone operates extremely stringently whereas the other pheromone is free to undergo a certain degree of diversification, perhaps leading to a first step towards speciation.

• share
• favorite_border

Today we have a good understanding of the pattern of dangerous behaviors abusive men use to manipulate their partners. However, most women, their friends, and their family members do not have access to safety information. Dirty John presents an opportunity for women in abusive relationships to learn more about developing a personalized, practical safety plan for when in danger.

• share
• favorite_border

A study published in the February 2019 “Pediatrics” journal suggests the majority of gay fathers and their children continue to experience stigma with potentially harmful physical and psychological effects, despite legal, media and social advances. Study participants specifically cited structural stigma, such as state laws and beliefs of religious communities, as affecting their experiences in multiple social contexts.

• share
• favorite_border

A new long-acting contraceptive designed to be self-administered by women may provide a new family planning option, particularly in developing nations where access to healthcare can be limited, a recent study suggests. The contraceptive would be delivered using microneedle skin patch technology originally developed for the painless administration of vaccines.

• share
• favorite_border

If teen partner rape could be predicted, it could be better prevented. Social scientists from Michigan State University are helping close that gap by identifying risk factors linked to sexual violence in young women’s first relationships in life.

• share
• favorite_border

Study suggests that the oral medication Gabapentin can reduce pain and increase sexual desire and satisfaction

• share
• favorite_border

Covered on NBC and CBS

• share
• favorite_border

It is difficult to comprehend declining fertility rates without a deeper understanding of the underlying perceptions that drive fertility-related behaviors. In a recent study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, Robin E. Jensen, professor of communication at the University of Utah, surveyed 990 U.S. adults about their perceptions of human fertility.

• share
• favorite_border

Can being in a strong committed relationship reduce the risk of suicide? Researchers at Michigan State University believe so, especially among members of the National Guard.

• share
• favorite_border

People who value following purity rules over caring for others are more likely to view gay and transgender people as less human, which leads to more prejudice and support for discriminatory public policies, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

• share
• favorite_border

Of the 34 million people worldwide with HIV, and the 200 million with schistosomiasis, the majority live in Africa— where millions of people are simultaneously infected with both diseases. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have shown that schistosomiasis infections are associated with increased HIV onward transmission, HIV acquisition in HIV negative women with urogenital schistosomiasis, and progression to death in HIV positive women.

• share
• favorite_border

New non-invasive treatment for stress urinary incontinence helps strengthen the pelvic floor, and shows more than 87 percent of patients were dry or had mild leakage after a 12-week treatment period, with 93 percent of patients experiencing improvement in just four weeks.