Naomi M. Morris

Serum androgenic hormones motivate sexual behavior in adolescent boys

In order to separate hormonal from social effects on adolescent male sexual behavior, serum hormone assays were performed and questionnaire data on sexual motivation and behavior were collected on a representative sample of 102 boys in grades 8, 9, and 10 of a public school system. Free testosterone was a strong predictor of sexual motivation and behavior, with no additional contribution of other hormones. Including measures of pubertal development and age (indexing the effects of social processes) indicated no additional effects. Free testosterone, therefore, appears to affect sexual motivation directly and does not work through the social interpretation of the accompanying pubertal development.

Pubertal development and friends: A biosocial explanation of adolescent sexual behavior.

Analysis of recent data from Caucasian teenagers in the United States indicates that increased sexual motivation during adolescence is related to levels of pubertal development and best friends sexual involvement for both males and females. Pubertal development effects are analyzed from two perspectives: effects which are socially motivated and effects which are attributed to biological motivation (libido). The biosocial model indicates that a simultaneous consideration of pubertal development and friends behavior provides a different and clearer picture of the process than examination of the effects separately.

Seasonality of coitus and seasonality of birth

ResumenEn todas las poblaciones estudiadas se ha observado quehay una variación estacional en la tasade natalidad. Se han adelantado muchas hipótesis para explicaresiavariación, incluyendo una variación estacional en lafrecuenciadel coiio, Se sabe que ésta relación es eierta para otros primates, peroen el hombre, no se ha documentado anteriormente una variación estacional en la tasa de coiios.Este trabajo presenia datos equivalentes a más deciem años-mujer sobre tasasde coito, correspondientes a cincuenta mujeres voluntarias, de rasa blanca, en su mayor parte bien educadas, en edad pre-menopáusica, casadas y conesposo presente. Se encontró que había fluctuaciones estocionales en las tasas de coito, más 0 menos de la misma magnitudque las variaciones estacionales en las tasasde nacimientos de blancos, que se han informado para la ciudad de New York 1962–1964; para los Estados Unidos 1963; y para el quintillo socioeconómico más alto de las divisiones zensalee, Baltimore, 1952–1956. Sinembargo al desplazar las tasae de nacimientos euarienta semanas para aproximarlas a las fechas de la conzepci6n, no se pudo demostrar alguna asociación con las tasas de coiio observadas.Si el esquema presentado tiene posibilidades de generalización, las variaciones estacionales en los nacimientos no pueden ser explicadas por variaciones esiacionales en el coito,SummarySeasonal variation of birth rates has been observed in every population in which it has been studied. Many hypotheses have been advanced to account for the variation, including seasonal variation in frequency of coitus. This relationship is known to be true for other primates, but seasonal variation in coital rate has not been previously documented in man.This paper presents over one hundred woman-years of data on coital rates from about .fifty white, mostly well-educated, premenopausal, married, husband-present volunteers. Seasonal fluctuations were seen in coital rates, of about the same magnitude as seasonal variations in the white birth rates reported for New York City, 1962–64; for the United States, 1963; and for the highest socioeconomic quintile census tracts, Baltimore, 1952–56. However, shifting the birth rates back forty weeks to approximate conception dates revealed no association with the observed coital rates.If the pattern presented has great generality, seasonal variations in births cannot be explained by seasonality of coitus.

A METHOD FOR VALIDATION OF REPORTED SEXUAL DATA.

IN THE past 30 years, it has become commonplace to collect interview and questionnaire data about the personal sexual behavior of respondents, and most researchers have come to take it for granted that if the questions are asked in a reasonable and non-threatening way, they will be answered. The problem which continues to nag is the matter of validity of the response. Did the respondent actually do what he said he did? In methodological discussions, it is usually recommended that questions be non-threatening and that rapport be established,1 but the contribution of rapport to response validity is not known. Kinsey et al. recommend placing the burden of denial of an act on the respondent by, for example, asking when he first engaged in an activity, not whether.2 Rapid-fire questioning with built-in cross-checks are also recommended for the interview situation,3 but regular schedule. Thus there has appeared to be no way of determining the accuracy of reported sexual behavior.

Contraceptive pills and day-by-day feelings of well-being☆

Abstract Most women ingesting oral contraceptives do not notice feeling any different day by day because of the hormones they are receiving. A few feel better, and a few feel worse. These findings are consistent with those of Goldzieher and associates. Regardless of hormone ingestion, women tend to feel worse than usual prior to and during menstruation. This persistent pattern points out the complexity of the overt cyclicity of women and suggests that more research is indicated to determine whether or not, or to what extent, dysmenorrhea and premenstrual tension are dependent upon prior ovulation.

Temporal relationship between basal body temperature nadir and luteinizing hormone surge in normal women.

Basal body temperature (BBT) as a predictor of ovulation was assessed by examining the temporal relationship between the BBT shift and the luteinizing hormone (LH) surge in individual cycles of 27 normal women. For 22 of the subjects, the LH surge occurred on the same day or within one day of the BBT nadir. For the remaining five subjects, the surge fell within 2 days after or 3 days before the nadir. Despite the BBT nadirs close temporal association with the LH surge, daily examination of BBT for the purpose of predicting the day of ovulation during a given cycle is unsatisfactory. By 48 hours following the nadir, when one could usually be certain that temperature elevation had occurred, all subjects had already exhibited the LH surge.

The frequency of sexual intercourse during pregnancy.

Reports of day-by-day sexual activity for the previous week were collected from a total community sample of over 900 pregnant and nonpregnant Thai women of childbearing age during a fertility survey in 1967–1968. About 13% of the women were pregnant. Examination of the womens intercourse frequencies at various stages of pregnancy revealed a downward trend as pregnancy progressed. However, a difference between the mean frequency for age-matched, nonmenstruating, nonpregnant women and that during any stage of pregnancy was not statistically significant at the p =0.05 level (t test, two-tailed) until the seventh month. Much individual variation existed among the women. Complete abstinence from intercourse during the previous week reached a peak of 72.7% in the ninth month. The increase in abstinence with the progression of pregnancy appeared linear. The importance of these data lies in two methodological facts: they were collected from a total population sample and are therefore unbiased by sample selection; the women were not asked to report their “average” frequencies for some time period in the past. Reports of behavior on each day of only the preceding week were the basis for the conclusion. Although the women are from a different culture, lay and professional advice concerning intercourse during pregnancy is similar to that in the United States. Because intercourse may be discouraged, particularly in the third trimester, it is difficult to attribute the observation of the gradual decline in frequency to a “physiological” reason. This tempting hypothesis, however, is worthy of further study.

Changes in Premarital Coital Experience of Recent Decade-of-Birth Cohorts of Urban American Women

Trends in premarital coitus were examined by cohort analyses of samples of white and black women living in 16 U. S. cities. The data suggest (1) increases in premarital coitus for each successive cohort, with the most rapid increase appearing for those age 15-19 in the late 1960s; (2) these increases were not attributable to changes in socioeconomic status; and (3) lower rates of premarital coitus among whites than blacks for all cohorts, regardless of socioeconomic status. The findings are compared with the Kinsey data.

Reduction of Low Birth Weight Birth Rates by the Prevention of Unwanted Pregnancies

To determine a correlation between prevention of unwanted pregnancies and the reduction of births under 2500 grams (low birth weight: LBW) the Family Planning Evaluation Project (FPEP) of HEW monitored pregnancy wantedness in 3030 black women and 4891 white women delivering from December 1971 to May 1972. Sampling consisted of random filling of quotas by 60 major hospitals by race per week. Women whose infants died or appeared moribund in the first 24 hours were not interviewed. Overall LBW birth rates were 5% for whites and 10.6% for blacks. Among whites there was a significant difference in LBWB rates for wanted and unwanted pregnancies (4.3% compared to 6.6% p less than .05). Mathematically removing the unwanted births produced insignificant difference in LBWB rates for both races. The effects of parity marital status socioleconomic status and education on LBWB rates were compared. A striking difference appears between LBWB rates for unwanted and wanted births to women with more than 12 years of education (blacks: 11.8% vs. 2.4%; whites: 10.2% vs. 2.4%). Eliminating unwanted pregnancies on group rates for women known to be high risk for births under 2500 grams (low education and income unmarried) produced insignificant effect on data. Overall results indicate that prevention of unwanted pregnancies will insignificantly reduce overall LBW birth rates and that reduction of national LBWB rates is a poor measure of cost-effectiveness in family planning programs.

Effect of contraceptive pills on sexual activity in the luteal phase of the human menstrual cycle.

The results of a double-blind placebo study reveal changes of sexual behavior of 51 women followed over three menstrual cycles. Differences in sexual activity during the luteal phase of the cycle (days 18 to 25) were noted. Sexual activity increased for women on contraceptive pills but not on placebo. After examination of the data, hypotheses were rejected that the difference was due to contraceptive pills directly affecting the womans feeling state or overall activity level. The data are consistent, however, with the following: The presence of endogenous progesterone during natural cycles affects the male so that he does not desire coitus as frequently during the luteal phase. The absence of endogenous progesterone during pill cycles removes whatever restraint progesterone has on coitus. No other interpretation is consistent with the data derived from this study. The influence on the human male may operate via a pheromone as is the case with male rhesus monkeys.