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. 2020 May;49(4):1333-1343.
doi: 10.1007/s10508-019-01623-8. Epub 2020 Mar 4.

Abstinence from Masturbation and Hypersexuality

Felix Zimmer  1 , Roland Imhoff  2
Affiliations

Abstinence from Masturbation and Hypersexuality

Felix Zimmer et al. Arch Sex Behav. 2020 May.

Abstract

Despite the lack of evidence for negative health effects of masturbation, abstinence from masturbation is frequently recommended as a strategy to improve one's sexual self-regulation. We adopted a framework of perceived problems with pornography to collect first hints about whether abstinence from masturbation stems from a psychological and behavioral "addiction" or conflicting attitudes. In an online questionnaire survey recruited via a non-thematic Reddit thread (n = 1063), most participants reported that they had tried to be abstinent from masturbation. As visible from zero-order correlations and multiple linear regression, motivation for abstinence was mostly associated with attitudinal correlates, specifically the perception of masturbation as unhealthy. While there were associations with hypersexuality, no significant correlation with behavioral markers such as maximum number of orgasms was found. Higher abstinence motivation was related to a higher perceived impact of masturbation, conservatism, and religiosity and to lower trust in science. We argue that research on abstinence from masturbation can enrich the understanding of whether and how average frequencies of healthy behavior are pathologized.

Keywords: Abstinence; DSM-5; Hypersexual Behavior Inventory; Hypersexuality; Masturbation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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