Description:
The Sexual Health Laboratory conducted a study examining the influence of negative early experiences on sexual well-being in adulthood. Data were collected from 500 participants without any discriminating criteria of gender, biological sex, and sexual orientation. Eligible individuals completed three online surveys over a one-year period, with each survey taking 40 to 60 minutes to complete.
Although studies have found associations between negative early childhood experiences and sexual well-being in adulthood, results remain contradictory. Relational, contextual, and individual factors could explain those conflicting results. A linguistic analysis can provide important information, which could help us improve our understanding of the associations between negative early childhood experiences and sexual well-being in adulthood. Therefore, this project aimed to examine the way individuals describe their sexuality by giving them a written task and how these descriptions related to indicators of sexual, relationship, and psychological well-being over time. These results will refine interventions that focus on the effects of negative early childhood experiences on sexuality, considering different individual characteristics.
This project was funded by the Canada Research Chair in Intimate Relationships and Sexual Well-being and was coordinated by Noémie Bigras during her postdoctoral fellowship. This project was approved by the Université de Montréal’s Education and Psychology Research Ethics Board (#CEREP-21-089-D).
