The relationship between worry, sexual aversion, and low sexual desire

The psychological trait of worry is associated with many psychiatric condit ions and maladaptive ways of coping, but is relationship to sexual dysfunct ions, and desire disorders in particular is unclear. In this study, we asse ssed the relationship between worry, sexual aversion, and low sexual desire using the Sexual Aversion Scale, the Hurlbert Index of Low Sexual Desire, and the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Data were collected from 138 colleg e undergraduates. As expected results showed a modest but significant relat ionship between sexual aversion and low sexual desire, which is consistent with the taxonomy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disord ers (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), which lists sexual a version disorder and hypoactive sexual desire disorder as separate but rela ted conditions. Contrary to our prediction, however the tendency to worry w as no more related to sexual aversion than it was to low sexual desire. The relationship between these variables was significant, but it was also rela tively weak. We conclude that chronic and intense worry may predispose one to certain anxiety disorders, but it does not appear to be a risk factor fo r sexual desire problems in nonclinical populations.