Preferred Name

Sureyya Sanchez

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4876-8537

Date of Graduation

5-9-2024

Semester of Graduation

Spring

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Department of Graduate Psychology

Advisor(s)

Jeff Dyche

Bernice Marcopulos

Melanie Shoup-Knox

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover if individuals taking oral contraceptives differed on measures of sleep and sexual behavior compared to those who are taking no form of birth control. Participants wore motion loggers every night for two-weeks, tracking their sleep, and filled out a questionnaire every morning inquiring about their sleep, sexual feelings, sexual behaviors, and affect from the day before. Research in this area of study is very sparse and results are conflicting, therefore I aimed to obtain comprehensive information to derive a basic understanding on if sexual behavior variables and sleep variables are in fact related and the extent to which oral contraceptive use impacts either. Results from an independent t-test analyses showed that oral contraceptive users had higher average sexual arousal, average genital lubrication, and average Female Sexual Functioning Index scores than non-users. The oral contraceptive users also demonstrated greater instances of sexual initiation and sexual intercourse than non-users, however, this finding is likely attributed to the discrepancies between groups regarding both partner availability and sexual activity status. Furthermore, average sleep duration was a significant predictor of average orgasmic function, explaining 29% of the total variance. When looking at scores not averaged, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule scores were tested and showed to be a significant predictor of genital lubrication, explaining 13.5% of the total variance. Future directions should aim to examine a more diverse sample of participants to understand the potential influences of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and chronotype on the test variables.

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