SOME CLINICAL AND PSYCHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PREMATURE EJACULATORS

Patients with premature ejaculation (PE) were subdivided into primary (PPE), individuals who had suffered from PE since the beginning of the ir sexual lives, and secondary (SPE), those who developed the conditio n after years of satisfactory sexual functioning. PPEs differed from S PEs on a number of clinical and psychometric variables. Clinically SPE s were significantly more likely to manifest a coexisting erectile dis order, reduction in sex drive, and a decrease in arousal during sexual stimulation than SPEs. They were significantly less likely to report high levels of anxiety during coitus. Psychometrically, on the Derogat is Sexual Functioning Inventory, PPEs were significantly more ''impair ed'' than the SPEs as reflected by scores on the Symptoms and Satisfac tion scales and the GSSI. They were significantly less impaired on mea sures of sex drive (e.g., Drive and Fantasy). On the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HRAS), the PPEs scored as significantly more anxious tha n the SPEs. The findings suggest that dichotomizing PE into PPE and SP E may be clinically useful, and may have etiologic treatment and progn ostic implications.