Sexual Communication in Relationships: When Words Speak Louder Than Actions

By K. Quina, Lisa L. Harlow, P. Morokoff, G. Burkholder, P. Deiter. 2000

133 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Sexual communication for expressing sexual desires and gathering HIV risk information were examined as interpersonal constructs related to HIV risk reduction. Community women (n = 816) with at least one heterosexual HIV risk factor (79% Euro-American, 86% some college) completed surveys assessing assertive communication with a sexual partner, HIV risk, and demographic, sexual history, interpersonal negative, and cognitive/attitudinal constructs which formed a hierarchical predictor model. In relationship context comparisons, women with a known partner HIV risk responded more negatively on most measures. Multiple regressions suggested communication is part of an overall cognitive/attitudinal approach to HIV risk, although specific predictors differ by type of communication and partner risk level. Implications for interventions considering relational context, interpersonal power, and counteracting silence are discussed.

Subfields: General Health Professions, Infectious Diseases, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f5c92c83ea78fe8758429c0eee1bcd5748690d12

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In General Health Professions

1. S. Noar
2. Sandra L. Faulkner
3. Kathryn Greene
4. Walid A. Afifi
5. J. Weiner
6. S. Maisto
7. Sarah E. Woolf

In Social Psychology

1. S. Noar
2. Kathryn Greene
3. Walid A. Afifi
4. J. Weiner
5. T. Humphreys
6. P. Morokoff

Citations in the corpus

• Condom Negotiation in Heterosexually Active Men and Women: Development and Validation of a Condom Influence Strategy Questionnaire (2002, result): “Thus, partner communication is important as previous studies have demonstrated (e.g., Sheeran et al., 1999; Quina et al., 2000), though here it is suggested that communication may not necessarily lead to negotiation.”
• Seeking Information About Sexual Health: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management (2006, background): “For example, Kelly and Kalichman (1995) concluded that ‘‘communication between sexual partners about sex in general—and safer sex in particular—has emerged as one of the strongest predictors of consistent condom use’’ (p. 910; see also Quina et al., 2000; Wingood & DiClemente, 1998).”
• Gender Differences in Condom Use Behavior? The Role of Power and Partner-Type (2008, background): “Difficulty was divided into three distinct concepts based on research that suggests relationship power is influential on women’s ability to discuss (Soet et al. 1999), negotiate (Gomez and Marin 1996; Quina et al. 2000; Wingood and DiClemente 2000), and implement (Maxwell and Boyle 1995; Wingood a”
• Sexual Consent in Heterosexual Relationships: Development of a New Measure (2007, background): “Given the dearth of research on sexual consent itself, research in the related areas of sexual communication (Hickman and Muehlenhard 1999; O’Sullivan and Byers 1992; Quina et al. 2000; Sawyer et al. 1993), safer sex negotiations (Allen et al.”
• Gender, Belief in the Sexual Double Standard, and Sexual Talk in Heterosexual Dating Relationships (2005, background): “In a survey of women who had at least one risk factor for HIV from heterosexual contact, Quina, Harlow, Morokoff, Burkholder, and Deiter (2000) discovered that the ability to talk about sexual pleasure was unrelated to talk about HIV risk.”