Authors:	Zimmer, Felix Imhoff, Roland
Title:	Abstinence from masturbation and hypersexuality
Online publication date:	4-Jun-2021
Year of first publication:	2020
Language:	english
Abstract:	Despite the lack of evidence for negative health effects of masturbation, abstinence from masturbation is frequently recommended as a strategy to improve one’s sexual self-regulation. We adopted a framework of perceived problems with pornography to collect first hints about whether abstinence from masturbation stems from a psychological and behavioral “addiction” or conflicting attitudes. In an online questionnaire survey recruited via a non-thematic Reddit thread (n = 1063), most participants reported that they had tried to be abstinent from masturbation. As visible from zero-order correlations and multiple linear regression, motivation for abstinence was mostly associated with attitudinal correlates, specifically the perception of masturbation as unhealthy. While there were associations with hypersexuality, no significant correlation with behavioral markers such as maximum number of orgasms was found. Higher abstinence motivation was related to a higher perceived impact of masturbation, conservatism, and religiosity and to lower trust in science. We argue that research on abstinence from masturbation can enrich the understanding of whether and how average frequencies of healthy behavior are pathologized.
DDC:	150 Psychologie 150 Psychology
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 02 Sozialwiss., Medien u. Sport
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-5968
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
License:	CC BY
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal:	Archives of Sexual Behavior 49
Pages or article number:	1333 1343
Publisher:	Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
Publisher place:	Dordrecht u.a.
Issue date:	2020
ISSN:	1573-2800
Publisher URL:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01623-8
Publisher DOI:	10.1007/s10508-019-01623-8
Appears in collections:	JGU-Publikationen