Richard O. de Visser

Sex in Australia: Sexual identity, sexual attraction and sexual experience among a representative sample of adults

Objective To describe the prevalence of same‐sex and opposite‐sex attraction and experience in Australia and the prevalence of different sexual identities.

Alcohol consumption and masculine identity among young men

Concern about excessive alcohol consumption among young men demands an understanding of why some young men drink excessively while others do not. The aim of this study was to identify how young mens patterns of alcohol consumption are related to their beliefs about masculinity, and the importance of drinking to their masculine identities. Thirty-one individual interviews and five group discussions were conducted with an ethnically- and socioeconomically-diverse sample of men aged 18–21 living in London, England. Analysis revealed a variety of associations between masculinity and alcohol consumption. Some men believed that alcohol consumption is a marker of masculinity and behaved accordingly. Other men emphasised the importance of other behaviours to masculine identity. There was also evidence that men traded drinking competence with competence in other behavioural domains. The links between masculinity and health-related social behaviours such as drinking are not simple. Implications for health education and health promotion are discussed.

Sex in Australia: The rationale and methods of the Australian Study of Health and Relationships

Objective: To describe the methods and process of the Australian Study of Health and Relationships.

Sex in Australia: Sexual difficulties in a representative sample of adults

Objectives : The Australian Study of Health and Relationships reports on sexual behaviours in a representative sample of Australian adults.

Developing an Interpretative Phenomenological Approach to Focus Group Data

Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is an approach to qualitative research that is now well-established in British psychology. This approach is concerned with understanding peoples experiences of the world and of themselves. The aims of IPA studies have been met most frequently through the use of one-on-one interviews. Relatively few studies have used focus group discussions as the basis for IPA studies, but focus groups may provide rich experiential data. In this article, we describe a process for integrating focus group data into an IPA study. We developed this during a study of the experiences of carers of people with mental health problems. Here we outline the various steps of our analytic process and discuss how these might be employed and adapted by other researchers wishing to apply IPAs concern with personal experience to the analysis of focus group data.

Sex in Australia: sexually transmissible infection and blood-borne virus history in a representative sample of adults.

Objective To describe the lifetime and recent history of STIs and BBV, including place of seeking treatment, in a representative sample of Australian adults.

Sex in Australia: heterosexual experience and recent heterosexual encounters among a representative sample of adults.

Objective To describe numbers of opposite‐sex partners, experiences of different heterosexual behaviours, and recent heterosexual experiences among a representative sample of Australian adults.

Sex in Australia: homosexual experience and recent homosexual encounters.

Objective To describe the prevalence and features of homosexual experience and recent homosexual encounters among a representative sample of Australian adults.

‘That’s not masculine’ Masculine Capital and Health-related Behaviour

In recent years increasing attention has been given to how different masculinities are expressed in young men’s health behaviour. To examine whether men can use competence in key health-related masculine domains to compensate for other non-masculine behaviour, group discussions were conducted with men aged 18—21 living in London, England. The analysis revealed the ways in which competence in traditionally masculine health-related domains produces masculine ‘capital’, which can be used to compensate for non-masculine behaviour in other domains. However, the capacity to trade this capital is limited because different masculine and non-masculine behaviours have different values.

‘That's OK. He's a guy’: A mixed-methods study of gender double-standards for alcohol use

Although drinking and drunkenness have traditionally been considered masculine behaviours, young womens alcohol consumption has increased in recent years. This mixed methods study was conducted to examine the extent to which young people endorse gender double-standards for alcohol use – i.e., less acceptance of drinking and drunkenness in women than men – and how these influence mens and womens alcohol consumption. A sample of 731 English university students completed an online survey of gender role attitudes, beliefs about the gendered nature of alcohol use and recent alcohol consumption. Sixteen participants were then purposively selected for individual interviews: eight women and men with the most egalitarian gender role beliefs, and eight women and men with the least egalitarian beliefs. The two sets of data revealed that although there were few sex differences in actual levels of drinking or drunkenness, gender double-standards for alcohol use persist: beer drinking, binge drinking and public drunkenness tended to be perceived as masculine, and even the most egalitarian respondents were more judgemental of womens drinking. Participants modified their drinking style so as to maintain a desired gender identity. Although gender double-standards could be a focus of interventions to encourage moderate drinking, such approaches could reinforce gender inequalities.