Researching Sexual Activity and Mood in Young Adults

 Farwah Kaynat, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology with a minor in Business

 

As we get older, sexual relationships become more prevalent amongst young adults. With age comes desire and needs that tend to increase after puberty. As a society, we do not really touch upon the topic of sexuality because it is considered taboo. However, it is important to address sexual concerns, especially at the age where young teenagers are just beginning to develop and do not have much knowledge. They begin to get involved in intimate relationships, and develop impulses to adjust to their sexual activity in order to satisfy physical and emotional needs.

Previous studies conducted by researchers have shown that sexual activity can have both positive and negative effects on mood. The area of the study I researched assessed if there was any correlation between sexual activity and its effect on an individual’s mood. From the studies I read, the effects are both positive and negative to an extent.

A study by Nobre showed that sadness has a negative effect on arousal. If one or both partners experience sadness or some sort of negative emotion, it will affect arousal and create conflicting thoughts. A study by Proulx also showed that mood conflicts with sexual fantasies. However, on the flip side, if the partners are in a happy mood and have a mutual understanding, they will have a pleasing experience. A study by Regan showed that an individual’s initial emotional response is different compared to when performing sexual activities and after climax. For example, the partners may be nervous about how one another may feel before any kind of activity; however, emotions may change afterwards depending on how the experience was.

If I continued this research, I would have created open-ended questionnaires and yes/no surveys, and distributed them amongst individuals from the ages of 14 to 23. I would have studied how they perform in school and in their work lives, along with how a lack of, or a healthy amount of sexual activity effects their mood and mental health.