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Patterns of sexual behavior and psychological processes in asexual persons: a systematic review

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Abstract

Asexuality is commonly regarded as lack of sexual attraction. Research in asexuality grew progressively in the past two decades. However, asexuals’ patterns of sexual behavior and psychological processes were not yet systematized. This review searched for articles that could potentially help establishing these patterns. Articles published in English until December 31st 2019 were retrieved from Medline, Embase, Cochrane, EBSCO, PubMed, Scopus, and PsycARTICLES. A systematic search was conducted using an exhaustive list of key terms regarding asexuality and sexual behavior following PRISMA guidelines. Of the 195 initially retrieved, only 23 were considered for this review. Of the 23 articles, 16 were quantitative studies, 5 were qualitative studies, and 2 comprised quantitative and qualitative studies. Overall, current findings suggest that asexuals present great heterogeneity of sexual behaviors and psychological processes regarding sexuality, including different aspects and types of interpersonal and romantic relationships, sexual attitudes or fantasies. Conversely, data did not find support for the claim that asexuals present impaired sexual functioning. The little geographic and cultural diversity of the samples is a major limitation in these studies, preventing the properly representation of asexuals. Furthermore, asexuals may benefit from evidence on the biopsychosocial factors shaping sexual, emotional, and relationship well-being, as far as such evidence is built upon asexuals’ lenses, rather than on heteronormativity criteria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Psychology at University of Porto, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Leonor de Oliveira

  2. School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal

    Joana Carvalho

  3. Department of Urology, Gulhane Research and Training Hospital, Ankara, Turkey

    Selcuk Sarikaya

  4. Department of Urology, Haydarpasa Numune Research & Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ahmet Urkmez

  5. Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology, URI; IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

    Andrea Salonia

  6. University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

    Andrea Salonia

  7. Urology section, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Giorgio Ivan Russo

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  1. Leonor de Oliveira
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  2. Joana Carvalho
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  3. Selcuk Sarikaya
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  5. Andrea Salonia
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  6. Giorgio Ivan Russo
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the EAU-YAU Men’s Health Working group

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Correspondence to Joana Carvalho.

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de Oliveira, L., Carvalho, J., Sarikaya, S. et al. Patterns of sexual behavior and psychological processes in asexual persons: a systematic review. Int J Impot Res 33, 641–651 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-020-0336-3

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