Signs and symptoms of cybersex addiction in older adults
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The use of the Internet for sexual purposes is an increasingly widespread practice at any stage of life. Although in most cases, consumption is done recreationally, sometimes it may become compulsive, uncontrolled, and associated with functional impairment in various areas (addiction to cybersex). Knowing symptoms that characterize this clinical condition is a priority; however, we have poor knowledge about its expression in older adults. Thus, the aim of this work was double: 1) to analyze the prevalence of older adults at risk of developing or showing a pathological profile of cybersex use and 2) to develop a profile of signs and symptoms that characterize it in this population. 538 participants (77% men) over 60 years of age (M = 65.3) completed a series of online sexual behavior scales. 73.2% said they used the Internet with sexual aim. Among them, 80.4% did it recreationally whereas a 20% showed a risk consumption. Among the main symptoms, the most prevalent were the perception of interference 50% of participants), spending greater than 5 hours a week on the Internet for sexual purposes (50%), recognize that they may be doing it excessively (51%) or presence of symptoms of withdrawal (anxiety, irritability, depression, etc.) (24%). This work highlights the relevance of visualizing online risky sexual activity in a silent group and usually outside any intervention for the promotion of online sexual health.
Downloads
Article Details
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
References
Ballester-Arnal, R., Castro-Calvo, J., Gil-Llario, M. D., & Gil-Julià, B. (2016). Cybersex Addiction: A Study on Spanish College Students. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 43(6), 567–584.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2016.1208700
Ballester-Arnal, R., Castro-Calvo, J., Gil-Llario, M. D., & Giménez-García, C. (2014). Relationship status as an influence on cybersex activity: cybersex, youth, and steady partner. Journal of Sex &
Marital Therapy, 40(5), 444–456.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2013.772549
Ballester-Arnal, R., Gil-Llario, M. D., Gómez-Martínez, S., & Gil-Julià, B. (2010). Psychometric properties of an instrument for assessing cyber-sex addiction. Psicothema, 22(4), 1048–1053.
Ballester-Arnal, R., Giménez-García, C., Gil-Llario, M. D., & Castro-Calvo, J. (2016). Cybersex in the “Net generation”: Online sexual activities among Spanish adolescents. Computers in Human
Behavior, 57, 261–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.036
Carnes, P. J., Hopkins, T. A., & Green, B. A. (2014). Clinical Relevance of the Proposed Sexual Addiction Diagnostic Criteria. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 8(6), 450–461.
https://doi.org/10.1097/ADM.0000000000000080
Castro-Calvo, J., Ballester-Arnal, R., Gil-Llario, M. D., Giménez-García, C., & Billieux, J. (2018). Online Sexual Activities (OSAs) in Spain: similarities and differences across the lifespan. In
Abstracts of the 5th International Conference on Behavioral Addictions (p. 51).
Castro-Calvo, J., Ballester-Arnal, R., Giménez-García, C., & Gil-Julià, B. (2017). Comportamiento sexual online en adultos mayores [Online Sexual Behavior in Older Adults]. International Journal
of Developmental and Educational Psychology, 2(1), 89–98.
Castro-Calvo, J., Giménez-García, C., Gil-Llario, M. D., & Ballester-Arnal, R. (2018). Motives to engage in Online Sexual Activities and their links to an excessive and problematic use: a Systematic
Review. Current Addiction Reports, 1–20. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-018-
-y
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Hillsdale, New Jersey: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Cooper, A. (1998). Sexually Compulsive Behavior. Contemporary Sexuality, 32(4), 1–3.
Cooper, A., Delmonico, D. L., & Burg, R. (2000). Cybersex users, abusers, and compulsives: New findings and implications. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 7(1–2), 5–29.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10720160008400205
Cooper, A., & Griffin-Shelley, E. (2002). The internet:The next sexual revolution. In A. Cooper (Ed.),Sex & the internet: A guidebook for clinicians (pp. 1–15). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Daneback, K., Cooper, A., & Månsson, S.-A. (2005). An Internet Study of Cybersex Participants. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34(3), 321–328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-005-3120-z
Daneback, K., Sevcikova, A., Mänsson, S.-A., & Ross, M. W. (2013). Outcomes of using the internet for sexual purposes: fulfilment of sexual desires. Sexual Health, 10(1), 26–31.
https://doi.org/10.1071/SH11023
Goodson, P., McCormick, D., & Evans, A. (2001). Searching for sexually explicit materials on the Internet: an exploratory study of college students’ behavior and attitudes. Archives of Sexual
Behavior, 30(2), 101–118.
Grubbs, J. B., Stauner, N., Exline, J. J., Pargament, K. I., & Lindberg, M. J. (2015). Perceived Addiction to Internet Pornography and Psychological Distress: Examining Relationships
Concurrently and over Time. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29(4), 1056–1067. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000114
Kafka, M. P. (2013). The Development and Evolution of the Criteria for a Newly Proposed Diagnosis for DSM-5: Hypersexual Disorder. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 20(1–2), 19–26.
Kraus, S. W., Krueger, R. B., Briken, P., First, M. B., Stein, D. J., Kaplan, M. S., … Reed, G. M. (2018).
Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder in the Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder in the ICD- 11. World Psychiatry, 17(1), 109–110. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20499
Lochlainn, M. N., & Kenny, R. A. (2013). Sexual activity and aging. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 14(8), 565–572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2013.01.022
Ross, M. W., Mansson, S. A., & Daneback, K. (2012). Prevalence, severity and correlates of problematic sexual Internet use in Swedish men and women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 51(2),
–466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-011-9762-0
Shaughnessy, K., & Byers, E. S. (2014). Contextualizing cybersex experience: Heterosexually identified men and women’s desire for and experiences with cybersex with three types of
partners. Computers in Human Behavior, 32, 178–185.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.12.005
Shaughnessy, K., Byers, E. S., & Walsh, L. (2011). Online Sexual Activity Experience of Heterosexual Students: Gender Similarities and Differences. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(2), 419–427.
Smith, M. (2013). Youth Viewing Sexually Explicit Material Online: Addressing the Elephant on the Screen. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 10(1), 62–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-
-0103-4
Wéry, A., & Billieux, J. (2017). Problematic cybersex: Conceptualization, assessment, and treatment. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 238–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2015.11.007
Wolak, J., Mitchell, K., & Finkelhor, D. (2007). Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users. PEDIATRICS, 119(2), 247–257.