Engel Jannis, Waechter Antonia, Veit Maria, Kneer Jonas, Sinke Christopher, Brand Matthias, Krueger Tillmann H C
Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Clinical Psychology and Sexual Medicine, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
Department of General Psychology, Cognition and Center for Behavioral Addiction Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany.
Sex Med. 2025 Jan 15;12(6):qfae083. doi: 10.1093/sexmed/qfae083. eCollection 2024 Dec.
Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder is a new category in the 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases and is showing neuropsychological similarities to substance dependencies and behavioral addictions.
This experimental study aims to further our knowledge on implicit associations in Compulsive Sexual Behavior (CSB) with a clinical sample.
Participants completed an Implicit Association Test modified with pornographic pictures. In addition, problematic sexual behavior and sensitivity toward sexual excitation were assessed.
We collected data on implicit associations from 47 heterosexual men with CSB (age, M = 36.51, SD = 11.47) and a control group of 38 men without the condition (age: M = 37.92, SD = 12.33).
Results show significantly more positive relationships between implicit associations of pornographic pictures with positive emotions, as well as with problematic sexual behavior and sensitivity toward sexual excitation, in men with CSB vs. men without CSB. Furthermore, implicit associations, sexual excitation, and sexual inhibition due to threat of performance consequences differentiated significantly between groups using a binary stepwise logistic regression analysis. The findings are in line with those of previous subclinical investigations and support the assumption of pronounced positive implicit associations in CSB. Moreover, as suggested by the I-PACE model of addictive behaviors, implicit associations may be crucial to the maintenance of behavioral addictions.
Implicit associations could be addressed in therapy to illustrate cognitive processes of those affected and as an outcome measure in research on treatment efficiency.
STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS: The present study is the first to investigate implicit associations in CSB in a clinical sample. Findings are limited to heterosexual men.
Findings can be seen in accordance with a proposed classification of CSB as a behavioral addiction.
强迫性行为障碍是《国际疾病分类》第11版中的一个新类别，在神经心理学方面与物质依赖和行为成瘾存在相似之处。
本实验研究旨在通过临床样本进一步了解强迫性行为（CSB）中的内隐联想。
参与者完成了一项用色情图片修改后的内隐联想测验。此外，还评估了有问题的性行为和对性唤起的敏感度。
我们收集了47名患有CSB的异性恋男性（年龄，M = 36.51，标准差 = 11.47）和38名未患该疾病的男性对照组（年龄：M = 37.92，标准差 = 12.33）的内隐联想数据。
结果显示，与未患CSB的男性相比，患有CSB的男性中，色情图片的内隐联想与积极情绪、有问题的性行为以及对性唤起的敏感度之间的正相关关系更为显著。此外，使用二元逐步逻辑回归分析，两组在因表现后果威胁导致的内隐联想、性唤起和性抑制方面存在显著差异。这些发现与之前的亚临床研究结果一致，支持了CSB中存在明显正性内隐联想的假设。此外，正如成瘾行为的I-PACE模型所表明的，内隐联想可能对行为成瘾的维持至关重要。
内隐联想可在治疗中加以探讨，以阐明受影响者的认知过程，并作为治疗效果研究的一项结果指标。
本研究是首次在临床样本中调查CSB中的内隐联想。研究结果仅限于异性恋男性。
研究结果与将CSB归类为行为成瘾的提议相符。
