A Scoping Review of the Influence of Mindfulness on Men's Sexual Activity.

Mindfulness practice and mindfulness-based interventions are widely known, especially for women's sexuality. However, it is currently unknown how this practice affects the experience of male sexuality, possibly due to the existence of pharmacological treatments that are usually the first choice of treatment for men. The objectives of this study are to explore the influence of mindfulness on different components of men's sexuality from a scoping review of relevant scientific articles existing in the literature. A literature search from 2010 to 2022 was carried out in the electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Dialnet, SciELO Citation Index, and Redalyc. Out of the 238 studies, 12 that met the defined selection criteria were selected. The analysis of these studies seems to indicate that the practice of mindfulness favours different variables of male sexuality, such as satisfaction and sexual functioning or genital self-image. Mindfulness-based interventions represent a valuable and promising contribution. No adverse effects were detected from the review of scientific articles considered in this work. Nevertheless, more randomized studies with active control groups are necessary to establish the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions in sex therapy for men.

Mindfulness in Sexual Activity, Sexual Satisfaction and Erotic Fantasies in a Non-Clinical Sample.

The goal of this study is to better understand the relation between the practice of Mindfulness and the sexual activity, sexual satisfaction and erotic fantasies of Spanish-speaking participants. This research focuses on the comparison between people who practice Mindfulness versus naïve people, and explores the practice of Mindfulness and its relation with the following variables about sexuality: body awareness and bodily dissociation, personal sexual satisfaction, partner and relationship-related satisfaction, desire, subjective sexual arousal, genital arousal, orgasm, pain, attitudes towards sexual fantasies and types of sexual fantasies. The sample consisted of 106 selected adults, 32 men and 74 women, who completed six measures on an online survey platform: (a) Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), (b) Scale of Body Connection (SBC), (c) New Sexual Satisfaction Scale (NSSS), (d) Scale of Sexual Activity in Women (SSA-W) and Men (SSA-M), (e) Hurlbert Index of Sexual Fantasy (HISF), (f) Wilson's Sex Fantasy Questionnaire. In the MAAS, Body Awareness subscale (SBC), NSSS, SSA-W and SSA-M, HISF and intimate fantasies subscale (Wilson's questionnaire), people in the Mindfulness condition showed higher scores and these differences were statistically significant. These results may have relevant implications in the sexuality of clinical and non-clinical samples.

Relationships between Mindfulness, Purpose in Life, Happiness, Anxiety, and Depression: Testing a Mediation Model in a Sample of Women.

Mindfulness is connected to positive outcomes related to mental health and well-being. However, the psychological mechanisms that account for these relationships are largely unknown. A multiple-step multiple mediator structural equation modeling (SEM) model was tested with mindfulness as the independent variable; purpose in life and behavioral activation as serial mediators; and happiness, anxiety, and depression as outcome measures. Data were obtained from 1267 women. Higher mindfulness was associated with higher levels of happiness and lower anxiety and depression symptoms. The association of mindfulness with the outcome variables could be partially accounted for by purpose in life and behavioral activation. The SEM model explained large proportions of variance in happiness (50%), anxiety (34%), and depression (44%) symptoms. Mindfulness is associated with both a sense of purpose in life and engagement in activities, which are also connected with positive outcomes. Moreover, having purposes in life is linked to higher levels of behavioral activation.

Disordered Eating Attitudes, Anxiety, Self-Esteem and Perfectionism in Young Athletes and Non-Athletes.

Eating disorders are associated with short and long-term consequences that can affect sports performance. The purposes of this study were to investigate whether female athletes, particularly gymnasts and footballers, exhibit more eating problems compared to female non-athletes, and to identify individual personality characteristics including anxiety, self-esteem, and perfectionism as possible contributors to eating disorder risk. In a sample of 120 participants, 80 adolescent female athletes were compared to a control condition of 40 non-athletes (mean age 17.2 ± 2.82). Participants responded to a questionnaire package to investigate the presence of disordered eating (SCOFF) and psychological variables in relation to disordered eating symptoms or eating disorder status. Subsequently, anthropometric measures were obtained individually by trained staff. There were statistically significant differences between conditions. One of the most important results was the score in SCOFF (Mann-Whitney = 604, p < 0.05; Cohen's d = 0.52, r = 0.25), being higher in control than in the gymnast condition. These results suggest that non-athlete female adolescents show more disturbed eating behaviours and thoughts than female adolescents from aesthetic sport modalities and, therefore, may have an enhanced risk of developing clinical eating disorders.