La risposta sessuale in coppie stabili: contributo alla verifica empirica del modello di Basson (2000) in un campione italiano

Sexual response in stable couples: a contribution to empirical verification of Basson’s model (2000) on an Italian sample. Introduction. Sexual functioning within the couple has not been studied often. This study aims to compare male and female sexual functioning in light of the most recent theoretical hypotheses, especially Basson’s model (2000), in a sample of 188 Italian couples. Materials and Method. The Italian version of the Brief Index of Sexual Functioning (BISF) for Women, for Men and of Perceived Relationship Quality Components Inventory have been administered to 188 Italian couples aged between 18 and 65 yrs. and Internal consistency was calculated by means of Cronbach alpha coefficients for each factor. A MANOVA was performed on the 4 factors and 7 dimensions of the BISF to verify the effect of gender and age as factors. An ANOVA was performed on the c-score of the BISF with the same factors. BISF factors, dimensions and c-score have been correlated with PRQC’s 6 factors to verify the effect of the quality of the couple’s relation on sexual functioning. Results. Couple Sexuality, Self-Eroticism, Anal Sexuality, Relationship Satisfaction, Desire, Initiation, Orgasm and c-score for men were significantly greater (p < .001) than for women, while Problems for men were significantly lower (p < .001) than for women. Other scores were comparable in both genders. In women Commitment correlated with all dimensions of the BISF but Self-Eroticism, in men only with Sexuality of the Couple. In women Arousal correlated with all PRQC factors, in men it correlated with none. Conclusion. This research provides further validation of Basson’s (2000) model on diffe - rences between male and female sexuality, especially regarding female arousal modality.