Feature Channels: Sex and Relationships

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Researchers at Flinders University are working to remedy this situation by identifying what triggers this chronic pain in the female reproductive tract.

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Evidence of an impending breakup may exist in the small words used in everyday conversations months before either partner realizes where their relationship is heading, according to new psychology research.

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Girls who are emotionally neglected or severely sexually abused early in their lives report riskier sexual behaviors during adolescence, Mount Sinai researchers report. The findings highlight the need—and suggest the potential for tailored approaches—to promote healthy sexual development in vulnerable populations.

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While there is an abundant amount of research about traumatic brain injuries in athletes and those serving in the military, the same data is scarce when it comes to concussions and head and neck injuries sustained due to intimate partner violence.

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Through small, neighborhood classes, researchers at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Promundo-US significantly reduced sexual violence among teenage boys living in areas of concentrated disadvantage. The study appears in JAMA.

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Going through a divorce is extremely challenging and previous research has highlighted the adverse effects that it can have on divorcees.

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OVER-45s are at a higher risk of contracting STIs than ever before because of society's unwillingness to talk about middle-aged and older people having sex, a new report has found.

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Researchers at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute are studying how the pandemic is affecting marital quality, sexual behavior, reproductive planning and health, and individual and family well-being. The study suggests that, overall, early in the pandemic, most married individuals reported a positive impact on their marriage.

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A bioethicist lays out the ethical rationale to develop robots for isolated and disabled older people – a population increasingly alone due to COVID-19. Many lonely seniors would value a robot for companionship and sexual gratification, writes Nancy Jecker at the Univ. of Washington School of Medicine.

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A potential breakthrough in the early detection of the neck, head and anal cancers linked to human papilloma viruses (HPV) has emerged. It is based on a highly specific diagnostic test that appears to indicate cancer, and predict its course, from just a pinprick of blood.

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A new study points to a need for oncologists to ask their patients about sexual health after chemotherapy, radiation and other cancer treatments. In a survey of nearly 400 cancer survivors, 87% said they experienced sexual side effects, but most also said their oncologist had not formally asked about them. Female patients were especially unlikely to be asked about sexual dysfunction. Findings will be presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.

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Women who compete in martial arts and combat sports challenge gender norms in their profession but often embrace them wholeheartedly and even overdo them in their personal lives, finds a UC Riverside study published in Sociology of Sport Journal.

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Couples that pray together stay together. It’s a common religious saying, but a new study from the University of Georgia is giving the proverb some scientific credence.

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Couples that clash often are more likely to experience feelings of loneliness and poorer physical health, according to new University of Georgia research.

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Safe Sex or Risky Romance? Young Adults Make the Rational Choice; Remember That Fake News You Read? It May Help You Remember Even More; Interventions May Have Lasting Benefits

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Both old wives’ tales and psychological literature posit that spouses’ faces become more similar over time. Scholars have argued that partners tend to occupy the same environments, engage in the same activities, eat the same food, and mimic each other’s emotions—and as these factors can also influence facial appearance—their faces should converge with time. For example, if the partners smile a lot—and make each other smile—they should co-develop similar smile lines.

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Same-gender couples have higher-quality interactions with one another than heterosexual couples in Southern California, a new UC Riverside study finds.

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A recent study from the University of Georgia found that the way couples approach conflict is associated with a key biomarker of physical health.

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The evidence is in: Nice guys and gals don’t finish last, and being a selfish jerk doesn’t get you ahead. That’s the clear conclusion from research that tracked disagreeable people—those with selfish, combative, manipulative personalities—from college or graduate school to where they landed in their careers about 14 years later.

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In spite of the stress from COVID-19 and stay-at-home restrictions, many Americans continue to say the relationships with their spouses and children have improved during the pandemic, a study by the USC Center for the Digital Future (CDF) has found.

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A premier medical education opportunity for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

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Recreational use of the illicit drug methamphetamine has long been associated with increases in overall impatient and risky behavior. Now, a new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers affirms that meth use increases not only sexual desire but also, specifically and measurably, the risk of casual sex without a condom for those who have an increase in sexual desire.

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The Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting will happen online October 15-18, 2020. The meeting spans the sciences, the arts and the scary while bringing scientists, artists and journalists together with the general public. This year’s meeting has been reanimated into a livestream broadcast on Channel Zed. Registrants will have access to programming on topics like how birth control, race relations, the pandemic, sex, literature and social media can all be thought of as zombification processes.

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A new Johns Hopkins Medicine study adds to evidence that the earlier parents, educators and health care workers have age-appropriate and frank discussions about safe sex, the better will be their — and their partners’ — long-term sexual health and development. Specifically, the research concludes, these early interventions can lead to fewer unintended pregnancies.

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Misunderstandings about flirting can potentially result in awkwardness or even accusations of sexual harassment.

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In honor of Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month, the Johns Hopkins Medicine Kelly Gynecologic Oncology Service is hosting a series of 60-minute webinars during which top experts will address important issues related to gynecologic cancers and survivorship.

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Over the long-term, what one partner in a two-person relationship wishes to avoid, so too does the other partner - and what one wants to achieve, so does the other.

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A study of more than 300,000 couples in Sweden finds marriage to a spouse who grew up exposed to parental alcohol misuse increases a person’s likelihood of developing a drinking problem.

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Variations in a gene called CD38, which is involved in attachment behaviour in non-human animals, may be associated with human romantic relationship dynamics in daily life, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.

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The female reproductive tract has the final say in human mate choice, according to new research from the University of Eastern Finland.

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Among lesbian couples expecting their first child, low prenatal testosterone levels predict a higher quality of nurturing behavior, according to a new University of Michigan study.

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Tulane mental health experts say many of the strategies that are critical to ensuring public health are having a major impact on families experiencing intimate partner violence., also known as IPV.

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Infidelity is one of the most common reasons that heterosexual couples break up. Researchers who have studied 160 different cultures find this to be true worldwide.

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Two groups of nerve cells may serve as “on-off switches” for male mating and aggression, suggests a new study in rodents.

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How accurate was William Shakespeare when he said, "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,"? Researchers from Michigan State University conducted one of the first studies of its kind to quantify the happiness of married, formerly married and single people at the end of their lives to find out just how much love and marriage played into overall well-being.

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Young gay sexual minority men – especially Black and Latino youth – have their first sexual experiences at younger ages, emphasizing a need for comprehensive and inclusive sex education, according to Rutgers researchers.

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A nationally representative survey of young men finds that 90 percent believe their doctors should ask whether they have perpetrated or experienced domestic violence — but only 13 percent have ever been asked. The large gap suggests that physicians have an opportunity to begin more conversations about domestic violence and potentially intervene, says Tova Walsh, a professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who led the study.

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In many countries, sharing a bed with a partner is common practice. Yet, research investigating the relationship between bed sharing and sleep quality is both scarce and contradictory.

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Women seem to care more about security, whereas good looks matter more to men. It used to be that way, and it still is in most places, regardless of the major social changes that have occurred over time.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young adults because of social distancing as well as limited access to contraceptive and abortion care, according to a sexual and reproductive health researcher at the Rutgers School of Public Health who recently published an article on the topic. Leslie Kantor, a professor and chair of the Rutgers Department of Urban Global Public Health, addresses how these challenges, as well as peer and romantic relationships, are being navigated.

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One in five adults in the United States report they have experienced change – mostly a decrease – in their sexual behavior during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study by Indiana University researchers.

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A new study led a team that analyzed the role that communication plays in the division of household labor. They found that partner communication is the most important factor linking the division of household labor to satisfaction in the relationship. But the way that the partners’ communication matters depends on gender.

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Americans experienced more depression and loneliness during the early COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study by Indiana University, but those who kept frequent in-person social and sexual connections had better mental health outcomes.

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Breast cancer survivors in romantic relationships who feel happy and satisfied with their partners may be at lower risk for a host of health problems, new research suggests.

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While individuals with osteoarthritis (OA) who undergo joint replacement surgery often experience reductions in pain, emotional distress and improved function, there is little known about how these recovery-related changes impact their spouse or marital relationship. A new study released as part of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ (AAOS) Virtual Education Experience titled “Marital Relationship and Quality of Life in Couples Following Joint Replacement Surgery” found that a spouse’s quality of life also improves when their partner experiences positive results, following total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

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A recent study from Turkey found that women's sexual desire and frequency of intercourse increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but their quality of sexual life decreased.

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Online dating’s popularity probably will get a boost from the coronavirus pandemic, says an assistant professor of sociology at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).