Cindy M Meston
Biographic Data
| ID | 4470730 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Cindy M Meston |
| GIVEN NAMES | Cindy M |
| FAMILY NAME | Meston |
| SIGNATURE | MESTON C M |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8771-3956 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 52 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 396 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 52 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Being Pure and Being Ashamed: Purity Culture and Sexual Shame Among Survivors of Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences
The intertwining of religion and sex, particularly sexual shame, is a pertinent but underexplored phenomenon among survivors of nonconsensual sexual experiences (NSEs). Sexual shame, defined as shame related to one's sexual self, experiences, thoughts, and desires, is a commonly reported outcome of sexual violence and is known to negatively impact future sexual well-being. Purity culture - a strict sexual ethic rooted in Evangelical Christianity …
Undergraduate Students’ Definitions of Sexual Violence Labels Across the Rise of the #MeToo Movement
Examining changes in perspectives of sexual violence across the #MeToo movement is critical to understanding shifts in sociocultural contexts of sexual violence; yet the literature is still nascent. In the present study, we assessed variation across the #MeToo movement in undergraduate students’ ( N = 1,028) rape myth acceptance, sexual violence experiences, identification of experiences with sexual violence labels, and self-generated definitions…
The Role of Mandatory Reporting, Perpetrator and Violence Type, and Alcohol Consumption in Undergraduates’ Likelihood of Disclosing Sexual Violence
It remains unclear if mandatory reporting (MR) of sexual violence (SV) in universities impacts student reports of SV. MR may deter students from disclosing SV under certain circumstances (e.g., alcohol, perpetrator). This study evaluated students’ likelihood of reporting SV under MR policy across perpetrators, violence, and alcohol use. Female students received instructional manipulations describing either confidential or mandatory reporting poli…
Why Hungarians Have Sex (Ysex?-HSF)
Using the same methodology as Meston and Buss (2007), three studies were conducted on a Hungarian sample (total N = 4913) which corroborate previous findings on the universal diversity of sexual motivation. Study 1 ( N = 2728; 1069 women and 1659 men) identified 197 reasons for having sex based on participants’ free responses. In Study 2 ( N = 1161; 820 women and 341 men), participants indicated the extent to which each of the 197 reasons had led…
Why Hungarians Have Sex: Development and Validation of a Brief 15-Item Instrument (Ysex?-15H)
The present study developed a brief version of the Hungarian Why Sex? questionnaire (Meskó et al., 2022). The study was in part based on previously reported data obtained from several samples ( N = 6193; 1976 men, 4217 women). Using Mokken Scaling Procedure, Item Response Model and redundancy analysis indicated that retaining three summary scales comprising five items each was the optimal solution for the brief version. The validity of the brief …
Sexual Shame in the Sexual Excitation and Inhibition Propensities of Men With and Without Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences
For men with nonconsensual sexual experience (NSEs) histories, sexual shame may play a critical role in their sexual responses. Through online surveys, the current study examined sexual shame in the sexual excitation and inhibition responses of men with NSE histories who both do (identifiers; n = 255) and do not identify (non-identifiers; n = 239) their NSEs with sexual violence labels (e.g., rape) and men with no NSEs ( n = 289). Regardless of i…
Sexual dysfunction in women with a history of childhood sexual abuse: The role of sexual shame
Several differences have been noted between the sexual function of women with and without histories of CSA. Results suggest that differences in sexual shame may contribute to differences in sexual function between these groups. For women with CSA histories treatments that aim to reduce sexual shame may improve sexual function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
What Does Sexual Arousal Mean to You? Women With and Without Sexual Arousal Concerns Describe Their Experiences
Sexual arousal is frequently characterized by both subjective (i.e., mental) and physiological (e.g., genital) components. The nuances of these components, however, are difficult to capture via self-report instruments. Asking women to describe sexual arousal in their own words may therefore enhance our understanding of this construct. In the present study, women with (n = 190) and without (n = 610) arousal concerns were recruited online and wrote…
Identification of Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences and the Sexual Self-Schemas of Women: Implications for Sexual Functioning
A Developmentally Relevant Approach to Classifying Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences in the Study of Women’s Sexual Well-Being
In this article we propose a sexual developmental approach to classifying the onset of nonconsensual sexual experiences (NSEs) that differs from the traditional age cutoff approach. Online measures of sexual self-schemas, sexual response, and sexual functioning were administered to 797 women with and without NSE histories. Women were grouped based on when their NSEs first occurred in reference to their age of menarche and age of their first conse…
Differences in Neural Response to Romantic Stimuli in Monogamous and Non-Monogamous Men
Changes in the sexual self-schema of women with a history of childhood sexual abuse following expressive writing treatment
This study supports the validity of the 7 themes identified by Stanton and colleagues (2015) and suggests that expressive writing may aid women with a history of sexual abuse to process their abuse history such that it becomes a less salient aspect of their sexual self-schemas. (PsycINFO Database Record
Heterosexual Women’s Causal Attributions Regarding Impairment in Sexual Function: Factor Structure and Associations with Well-Being
Linguistic changes in expressive writing predict psychological outcomes in women with history of childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual dysfunction
An expressive writing treatment was recently reported to reduce depressive symptoms and improve sexual function and satisfaction in a sample of female survivors of childhood sexual abuse (Meston, Lorenz, & Stephenson, 2013). We conducted a linguistic analysis of this data to determine whether pre- to posttreatment changes in participants' language use were associated with the improvements in sexuality and depression. Linguistic Inquiry and Word C…
Relationship Satisfaction as a Predictor of Treatment Response During Cognitive Behavioral Sex Therapy
Physiological stress responses predict sexual functioning and satisfaction differently in women who have and have not been sexually abused in childhood
Physiological responses to sexual stimuli may contribute to the increased rate of sexual problems seen in women with childhood sexual abuse (CSA) histories. We compared two physiological stress responses as predictors of sexual function and satisfaction, sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation and cortisol in women with (CSA, N = 136) and without CSA histories (NSA, N = 102). In CSA survivors, cortisol response to sexual stimuli did not signi…
The Effect of Pre-Existing Affect on the Sexual Responses of Women With and Without a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Sexual Self-Schemas, Sexual Dysfunction, and the Sexual Responses of Women with a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Accumulating evidence points to the mediating effects of sexual self-schemas on the sexual difficulties of women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The following study adds to the extant literature by investigating (1) sexual function and (2) sexual satisfaction utilizing validated measures, and reporting on the relationship between sexual self-schemas and physiological (vaginal photoplethysmography), subjective, and affective respon…
Recreational Use of Erectile Dysfunction Medications in Undergraduate Men in the United States: Characteristics and Associated Risk Factors
The Relationship Among Sexual Attitudes, Sexual Fantasy, and Religiosity
The Association Between Sexual Motives and Sexual Satisfaction: Gender Differences and Categorical Comparisons
Ethnic Differences in Sexual Attitudes of U.S. College Students: Gender, Acculturation, and Religiosity Factors
The Association Between Sexual Satisfaction and Body Image in Women
Why Women Have Sex: Sexual Motivation--From Adventure to Revenge (And Everything in Between)
" ... Do women have sex simply to reproduce or display their affection? When University of Texas at Austin clinical psychologist Cindy M. Meston and evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss joined forces to investigate the underlying sexual motivations of women, what they found astonished them. Through the voices of real women, Meston and Buss reveal the motivations that guide women's sexual decisions and explain the deep-seated psychology and bio…
Ethnic, Gender, and Acculturation Influences on Sexual Behaviors
Why Humans Have Sex
Socially desirable responding and sexuality self‐reports
We assessed the impact of two distinct forms of socially desirable responding—self‐deceptive enhancement and impression management—on sexuality self‐reports (n = 504) under anonymous testing conditions. Results revealed significant positive relationships between self‐deceptive enhancement and sexual adjustment variables for both sexes. Impression management was significantly negatively related to a number of intrapersonal (e.g., unrestricted sexu…
Ethnic, gender, and length‐of‐residency influences on sexual knowledge and attitudes
We examined potential differences in sexual knowledge and attitudes between 702 Canadian undergraduates of Asian (n = 356) and European (n = 346) ancestry. We also examined potential influences of length of residency in Canada on these variables among Asians, and the role of gender both across and within ethnic groups. The primary purpose was to examine whether length of exposure to North American sexual values influences sexual knowledge or atti…
Sexual functioning and self‐reported depressive symptoms among college women
We conducted an exploratory study comparing 47 college-aged women reporting depressive symptoms but not receiving antidepressant medication to 47 age-matched controls. We examined various dimensions of sexual functioning, including sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, pain, pleasure, and satisfaction. The women with depressive symptoms reported more inhibited sexual arousal, more inhibited orgasm, more sexual pain problems, and less sexual satisfactio…
Spectatoring and the relationship between body image and sexual experience: Self‐focus or self‐valence
A recently reported finding that negative body image is associated with lower levels of sexual experience was replicated in a large, ethnically diverse sample of undergraduates. Additional analyses failed to support a proposed spectatoring, or chronic self‐focus, interpretation of this association (e.g., Faith & Schare, 1993). First, correlations between body image and a variety of dispositional self‐focus measures were either nonsignificant or i…
The Association Between Sexual Motives and Sexual Satisfaction: Gender Differences and Categorical Comparisons
Ethnic and gender differences in sexuality: Variations in sexual behavior between Asian and non-Asian university students
The Relationship Among Sexual Attitudes, Sexual Fantasy, and Religiosity
Ethnic, Gender, and Acculturation Influences on Sexual Behaviors
Empirically Validated Treatment for Sexual Dysfunction
The relation between early abuse and adult sexuality
One thousand and thirty‐two (566 non‐Asian; 466 Asian) undergraduates were assessed in a confidential laboratory setting regarding levels of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and a wide range of sexuality variables. The purpose was to examine relationships between specific forms of early abuse and later adult sexuality, and to assess potential gender and ethnic differences in these associations. Independent of other forms of…
Women's Orgasm
Love at First Fright: Partner Salience Moderates Roller-Coaster-Induced Excitation Transfer
The Association Between Body Esteem and Sexual Desire Among College Women
Predictors of Condom Use Self-Efficacy in an Ethnically Diverse University Sample
Sexual Self-Schemas, Sexual Dysfunction, and the Sexual Responses of Women with a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Accumulating evidence points to the mediating effects of sexual self-schemas on the sexual difficulties of women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The following study adds to the extant literature by investigating (1) sexual function and (2) sexual satisfaction utilizing validated measures, and reporting on the relationship between sexual self-schemas and physiological (vaginal photoplethysmography), subjective, and affective respon…
Sexual Shame in the Sexual Excitation and Inhibition Propensities of Men With and Without Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences
For men with nonconsensual sexual experience (NSEs) histories, sexual shame may play a critical role in their sexual responses. Through online surveys, the current study examined sexual shame in the sexual excitation and inhibition responses of men with NSE histories who both do (identifiers; n = 255) and do not identify (non-identifiers; n = 239) their NSEs with sexual violence labels (e.g., rape) and men with no NSEs ( n = 289). Regardless of i…
Identification of Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences and the Sexual Self-Schemas of Women: Implications for Sexual Functioning
The Relation Between Sexual Behavior and Religiosity Subtypes: A Test of the Secularization Hypothesis
Short- and Long-term Effects of Ginkgo Biloba Extract on Sexual Dysfunction in Women
Sexual Desire and Linguistic Analysis: A Comparison of Sexually-Abused and Non-Abused Women
The Effects of False Positive and False Negative Physiological Feedback on Sexual Arousal: A Comparison of Women with or without Sexual Arousal Disorder
Sex Differences in Memory for Sexually-Relevant Information
Such a Tease: Intentional Sexual Provocation within Heterosexual Interactions
Predictors of Genital Pain in Young Women
Psychoactive Drugs and Human Sexual Behavior: The Role of Serotonergic Activity
A wide range of both prescription and nonprescription drugs has been reported to affect human sexual functioning. While the sexual side effects resulting from drug use have often been attributed to adrenergic, anticholinergic or dopaminergic activity, the present review considers the potential role of serotonin. Based on animal studies, serotonin has been shown to either facilitate or inhibit sexual activity depending on which serotonin receptor …
Ethnic and gender differences in sexuality: Variations in sexual behavior between Asian and non-Asian university students
Inhibition of Subjective and Physiological Sexual Arousal in Women by Clonidine
OBJECTIVE: The present investigation was designed to provide the first empirical examination of the effects of clonidine, a selective alpha 2-adrenergic agonist, on sexual arousal in women with and without prior sympathetic nervous system [SNS] stimulation by exercise. The purpose was to help elucidate the influence of adrenergic mechanisms on sexual function in women. METHODS: Thirty sexually functional women participated in two experimental ses…
Empirically Validated Treatment for Sexual Dysfunction
Spectatoring and the relationship between body image and sexual experience: Self‐focus or self‐valence
A recently reported finding that negative body image is associated with lower levels of sexual experience was replicated in a large, ethnically diverse sample of undergraduates. Additional analyses failed to support a proposed spectatoring, or chronic self‐focus, interpretation of this association (e.g., Faith & Schare, 1993). First, correlations between body image and a variety of dispositional self‐focus measures were either nonsignificant or i…
Ethnic, gender, and length‐of‐residency influences on sexual knowledge and attitudes
We examined potential differences in sexual knowledge and attitudes between 702 Canadian undergraduates of Asian (n = 356) and European (n = 346) ancestry. We also examined potential influences of length of residency in Canada on these variables among Asians, and the role of gender both across and within ethnic groups. The primary purpose was to examine whether length of exposure to North American sexual values influences sexual knowledge or atti…
Socially desirable responding and sexuality self‐reports
We assessed the impact of two distinct forms of socially desirable responding—self‐deceptive enhancement and impression management—on sexuality self‐reports (n = 504) under anonymous testing conditions. Results revealed significant positive relationships between self‐deceptive enhancement and sexual adjustment variables for both sexes. Impression management was significantly negatively related to a number of intrapersonal (e.g., unrestricted sexu…
The relation between early abuse and adult sexuality
One thousand and thirty‐two (566 non‐Asian; 466 Asian) undergraduates were assessed in a confidential laboratory setting regarding levels of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and a wide range of sexuality variables. The purpose was to examine relationships between specific forms of early abuse and later adult sexuality, and to assess potential gender and ethnic differences in these associations. Independent of other forms of…
Sexual functioning and self‐reported depressive symptoms among college women
We conducted an exploratory study comparing 47 college-aged women reporting depressive symptoms but not receiving antidepressant medication to 47 age-matched controls. We examined various dimensions of sexual functioning, including sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, pain, pleasure, and satisfaction. The women with depressive symptoms reported more inhibited sexual arousal, more inhibited orgasm, more sexual pain problems, and less sexual satisfactio…
The Effects of Yohimbine Plus L-arginine Glutamate on Sexual Arousal in Postmenopausal Women with Sexual Arousal Disorder
Love at First Fright: Partner Salience Moderates Roller-Coaster-Induced Excitation Transfer
Women's Orgasm
The Effects of Hysterectomy on Sexual Arousal in Women with a History of Benign Uterine Fibroids
The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): Cross-Validation and Development of Clinical Cutoff Scores
The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) is a brief, multidimensional scale for assessing sexual function in women. The scale has received initial psychometric evaluation, including studies of reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity (Meston, 2003 Meston, C. M. 2003. Validation of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) in women with female orgasmic disorder and in women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Journal of Sex & M…
Development and Validation of a Five-Factor Sexual Satisfaction and Distress Scale for Women: The Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women (SSS-W)
Validation of the McCoy Female Sexuality Questionnaire in an Italian Sample
Tactile Sensitivity in Women with Sexual Arousal Disorder
Predictors of Condom Use Self-Efficacy in an Ethnically Diverse University Sample
Such a Tease: Intentional Sexual Provocation within Heterosexual Interactions
Sexual Desire and Linguistic Analysis: A Comparison of Sexually-Abused and Non-Abused Women
The Effects of False Positive and False Negative Physiological Feedback on Sexual Arousal: A Comparison of Women with or without Sexual Arousal Disorder
Predictors of Genital Pain in Young Women
Sex Differences in Memory for Sexually-Relevant Information
Why Humans Have Sex
Short- and Long-term Effects of Ginkgo Biloba Extract on Sexual Dysfunction in Women
Psychology (51 works) · Clinical Psychology (35 works) · Developmental psychology (35 works) · Medicine (34 works) · Sexual function and dysfunction studies (30 works) · Social Psychology (26 works) · Human sexuality (20 works) · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology (17 works) · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (16 works) · Sexual behavior (16 works)