Date of Award
6-15-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology
First Advisor
Galena Rhoades
Second Advisor
E. Paige Lloyd
Third Advisor
Howard Markman
Fourth Advisor
Heidi Vuletich
Fifth Advisor
Nicholas Perry
Keywords
Pornography, Romantic relationships, Sex education, Sexual minority men
Abstract
Individuals with sexual minority identities experience a variety of poorer mental and physical health outcomes, including those related to sexual and romantic quality, relative to heterosexual individuals (Beaulieu et al., 2017; CDC, 2021). These poorer romantic, sexual, and psychological outcomes may be attributable in part to lacking access to affirmative and relevant modeling of sexual minority experiences, such as through sex education (Gillespie et al., 2022; Keiser et al., 2019). This study aimed to understand how sexual minority men learn – in ways potentially both helpful and unhelpful – about romantic relationships and sexual activity, and how these experiences are related to their romantic and sexual behaviors. Three hundred and ten cisgender sexual minority men ages 18 to 75 were surveyed regarding their experiences learning about sex and romantic relationships, as well as their current functioning in sexual and romantic contexts and their explicit and implicit biases regarding sexual orientation. Partial support was found for the general hypothesis that current pornography viewing behaviors, as well as affirming and helpful experiences learning about sex and romantic relationships, would be associated with sexual and romantic outcomes. Pornography viewing and quality of one’s learning experiences were positively and negatively associated with different types of sexual consent behaviors, involvement in sexual violence, and relationship satisfaction. Finally, implicit and explicit bias were negatively associated with relationship satisfaction, but not quality of learning experiences.
Copyright Date
6-2024
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Charlie Huntington
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
123 pgs
File Size
710 KB
Recommended Citation
Huntington, Charlie, "Sources of Sexual and Romantic Education: Associations with Sexual Minority Men’s Sexual Experiences and Romantic Relationship Quality" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2438.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2438
Included in
Clinical Psychology Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Social Psychology Commons