Masturbation is common and generally accepted in Western society as a normal, healthy activity. In contrast, the Catholic Church holds that masturbation is immoral. Noting that the human person is a profound unity of body and spirit, if the Church is correct, masturbation should have negative effects on the human person. If the secular view is correct, masturbation should have conversely positive effects. This paper is divided into three parts. An in-depth literature survey was performed to evaluate the physical, medical, psychological, sociological and spiritual correlates of masturbation. The second part is a theological summary of the Catholic understanding of masturbation. The third part is an approach to therapy. Physically, masturbation was found to be less sexually satisfying than intercourse. Medical complications include penile injury and self-asphyxial behavior. Psychologically, masturbation was found to be associated with depression, anxiety, immature defenses, hypersexuality, guilt, poor body self-image and stress in the workplace. Sociologically most studies indicate a negative correlation between masturbation and relationship satisfaction, quality, intimacy, relational happiness, emotional satisfaction with the partner, trust, passion, and love. Spiritually, masturbation is highly positively correlated with pornography consumption and negatively with religion and religiosity. There is a higher rate of masturbation in homosexuals and bisexuals than in heterosexuals. Theologically, masturbation and pornography directly violate the religious virtue of chastity, undermining one\'s prayer life and the motivation to develop a spiritual life. Therapeutically, positive psychology, which emphasizes cultivating what it identifies as virtues, including justice, courage, temperance, wisdom (similar to prudence), transcendence (similar to hope) and humanity (similar to charity), can be used to counsel individuals struggling with masturbation. Once the harms are understood, a person can be counseled that this temptation represents a challenge, an opportunity to build self-control, and with self-control the capacity to develop character strengths and major virtues.

UNASSIGNED: Sexual health includes the state of physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being related to sexuality. Masturbation is an important sexual activity with many potential benefits which has gained considerable interest in sexuality research in the past twenty years; however, this research is the first of its kind within the Aotearoa/New Zealand context. In this in-depth investigation, we examined frequencies of, reasons for, and activities during masturbation as well as the relationship between masturbation and other factors.
UNASSIGNED: Participants were 698 New Zealand women at least 18 years of age participating in a 42-item anonymous online survey collecting comprehensive information about sexual practices and related factors.
UNASSIGNED: The results indicated that female masturbation has high prevalence in the New Zealand population.
UNASSIGNED: The pattern of results enabled us to identify the positive effects of masturbation, masturbation practices commonly used by New Zealand women and the differences between New Zealand women who masturbate frequently and less frequently.

The subjective orgasm experience (SOE) refers to its perception and/or assessment from a psychological viewpoint. Few works have approached this construct from a qualitative perspective and have never taken a consolidated theoretical model as a reference. This study aims to provide qualitative validity evidence to the Multidimensional Model of Subjective Orgasmic Experience, derived from the Orgasm Rating Scale (ORS), to qualitatively address SOE in the contexts of sexual relationships and solitary masturbation, analyzing the terms self-generated by individuals and examining the coincidence with the semantic descriptions of orgasm proposed by the ORS. Four hundred Spanish adults aged 18 to 64 years participated. The Technique of Free Association of Words was applied, and prototypical, frequency, and similitude analyses were performed. A similar description was observed concerning the terms generated in both contexts, with a higher frequency and intensity in the context of sexual relationships. In the context of solitary masturbation, negative orgasmic descriptions were evoked. Participants were able to elicit the vast majority of ORS adjectives, with Affective being the most notable dimension, followed closely by Rewards, especially in masturbation. Most of the adjectives were evoked simultaneously with those of the Affective, with \"pleasurable\" standing out as the most predominant one. This work provides qualitative evidence to the SOE study, ratifying the semantic composition of the ORS and thus endorsing the Multidimensional Model of Subjective Orgasmic Experience as a good theoretical model from which to continue studying the subjective orgasmic experience.

UNASSIGNED: In spite of adolescents\' high knowledge about modern contraceptives, usage is low especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Little is known about what adolescents use in place of modern contraceptive methods.
UNASSIGNED: This paper discusses lay strategies that adolescents use in their quest to prevent unintended pregnancy.
UNASSIGNED: A qualitative approach was used in the study reported in this paper. The paper draws on focus group data from a larger study looking at adolescent contraceptive needs in Ghana. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 79 adolescents who participated in a focus group discussion. Eight focus group discussions were held with both male and female adolescents aged 15-19. The data were analysed using the inductive thematic analysis method after transcribing the data.
UNASSIGNED: We found that after having sex without using condom, adolescent girls ejected sperms by using water, salt solution or ice cubes, while others engaged in pushing with pelvic floor muscles. In their bid to prevent pregnancy, for boys, engaging in masturbation and the intake of Tramadol before sex was observed. When these lay strategies fail, adolescents resorted to unsafe and illegal abortion.
UNASSIGNED: Though adolescents girls engaged in unprotected sex, they still tried to avoid pregnancy, and consequently adopted lay strategies of pregnancy prevention that do not expose them to stigma. It is therefore recommended that the Ministry of Health through the Ghana Health Service consider establishing more adolescent-friendly health centres and expanding existing ones where adolescents could easily visit to have their sexual and reproductive health needs addressed in a very confidential and non-judgemental manner.

The Catholic world is shaped by papal directives and their interpretation over time by appointed theologians. There are strict prohibitions on key questions about life and death, but in the context of the practical application of medical treatment techniques, the Vatican often remains vague. This may allow Catholic urologists to use a range of therapies that at first glance appear problematic. Furthermore, if physicians use a different form of expression than that stated in the doctrine of the faith, there is more space for medical practice.
UNASSIGNED: Die katholische Welt ist geprägt durch päpstliche Vorgaben und ihre Interpretation im Wandel der Zeit durch berufene Theologen. Es bestehen strenge Verbote bei zentralen Fragestellungen über Leben und Tod, aber im Rahmen der praktischen Anwendung ärztlicher Behandlungstechniken bleibt der Vatikan häufig vage. Dies kann katholischen Urologen erlauben, eine Reihe von Therapien anzuwenden, die auf den ersten Blick problematisch erscheinen. Bedienen sich die Ärzte zudem einer anderen Ausdrucksweise als derjenigen, die in der Glaubenslehre genannt wird, besteht ein größerer Handlungsspielraum.

Despite being a common sexual practice, not much is known about masturbation within the Malaysian context. The current study examined the masturbation practices of a convenience sample of Malaysian young adults, and how one\'s reported experience of masturbating and frequency of masturbation is associated with sexual and psychological well-being. Satisfaction with sex life, satisfaction with life, depression, anxiety, and stress were measured as outcome variables. Responses from 621 participants (M = 22.1 years, SD = 2.4 years) that were collected through an online questionnaire were analyzed. Results revealed that most participants (77.7%) had masturbated at least once in their life. Sexual satisfaction and psychological well-being did not differ between those who reported masturbating before and those who did not. Among those with masturbation experience, higher frequency of masturbation was associated with less sexual satisfaction and more symptoms of anxiety and stress. Masturbation frequency was not associated with life satisfaction or reports of depressive symptoms. Gender, frequency of partnered sex, availability of a sexual partner, and religiosity did not moderate the relationships between masturbation frequency with sexual satisfaction and psychological well-being. Although the limitations of the current study impede generalizability, masturbation was found to be a common behavior among the current sample. Causal inferences cannot be drawn from the significant associations found in the current study, as the findings indicate such relationships may be bidirectional.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12119-023-10101-2.

Masturbation occurs throughout the animal kingdom. At first glance, however, the fitness benefits of this self-directed behaviour are unclear. Regardless, several drivers have been proposed. Non-functional hypotheses posit that masturbation is either a pathology, or a byproduct of high underlying sexual arousal, whereas functional hypotheses argue an adaptive benefit. The Postcopulatory Selection Hypothesis states that masturbation aids the chances of fertilization, while the Pathogen Avoidance Hypothesis states that masturbation helps reduce host infection by flushing pathogens from the genital tract. Here, we present comprehensive new data documenting masturbation across the primate order and use these, in conjunction with phylogenetic comparative methods, to reconstruct the evolutionary pathways and correlates of masturbation. We find that masturbation is an ancient trait within the primate order, becoming a more common aspect of the haplorrhine behavioural repertoire after the split from tarsiers. Our analyses provide support for both the Postcopulatory Selection and Pathogen Avoidance Hypotheses in male primates, suggesting that masturbation may be an adaptive trait, functioning at a macroevolutionary scale.

The aim of with this brief report is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic differentially impacted solitary sexual behaviors in those with and without clinically significant compulsive sexual behavior (CSB). A total of 944 individuals in the United States completed an online cross-sectional survey in October 2020. Participants were asked to retrospectively report their frequency of masturbation and pornography use during the pandemic and prior to the pandemic. Participants also completed assessments of CSB, depression symptoms, and experiences of financial stress caused by the pandemic. Individuals who screened positive for clinically significant CSB reported statistically significant increases in masturbation and pornography use during the pandemic. Those who screened negative for CSB reported no significant increase in masturbation and a very small, statistically significant increase in pornography use. Those screening positive for CSB also reported significantly higher levels of depression symptoms but did not report increased likelihood of experiencing financial distress due to the pandemic. This suggests that increases in masturbation and pornography use reported by some, but not all, recent studies on sexual behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic may be driven by individuals with CSB. Future research on sexual behaviors during the pandemic should assess CSB to further clarify its relationship with sexual behavior changes.

UNASSIGNED: Premature ejaculation (PE) has negative personal consequences, such as distress, bother, frustration, and/or the avoidance of sexual intimacy. In Japan, no oral drugs or devices are approved or used clinically to treat PE. The Men\'s Training Cup Keep Training (MTCK), a masturbation aid, was developed for PE. MTCK offers 5 grades of tightness and strength.
UNASSIGNED: We aimed to investigate the efficacy of the MTCK in patients who are unable to delay ejaculation.
UNASSIGNED: Inclusion criteria were 20- to 60-year-old men feeling distressed and frustrated by PE and who had the same sexual partners throughout the study period. Exclusion criteria were neurologic disease and uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, as well as the use of antidepressants, α-blockers, and 5α-reductase inhibitors. The protocol comprised an 8-week training period with the MTCK from level 1 to level 5, with each level used twice before moving to the next level.
UNASSIGNED: The main outcome measure was the extension of intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT). The secondary outcome measures were score improvements on the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool, Sexual Health Inventory for Men, Erection Hardness Score, and Difficulty in Performing Sexual Intercourse Questionnaire-5.
UNASSIGNED: We enrolled 37 patients, and after 19 patients withdrew, 18 concluded the study without experiencing any adverse events. The mean patient age was 39.9 years. Geometric IELT after the 8-week training with the MTCK increased significantly (mean ± SE; 232.10 ± 72.16 seconds) vs baseline (103.91 ± 50.61 seconds, P = .006). Mean scores on the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool, Difficulty in Performing Sexual Intercourse Questionnaire-5, and Erection Hardness Score after 8-week training improved significantly vs the baseline values. The mean score on the Sexual Health Inventory for Men did not improve significantly after the 8-week training, but domain 1 did significantly improve after 8 weeks of MTCK use.
UNASSIGNED: The MTCK may be one possible treatment option for patients who are unable to delay ejaculation.
UNASSIGNED: This is the first study to show that the MTCK is effective for patients who are unable to delay ejaculation. A major limitation is that the present study was not strictly limited to an IELT <3 minutes.
UNASSIGNED: The MTCK may offer benefits not only for delay of ejaculation but also for erectile function.

Naturopathy and urology have little overlap in the present day, but in the Victorian era it was genital massage that made it clear to the medical profession that training specialized in diseases of the abdomen was necessary for physicians, otherwise patients would seek out lay healers and not clinics. This massage was developed in the 1850s by the Swedish officer Thure Brandt. It remained part of German medical practice until after World War II.
UNASSIGNED: Naturheilkunde und Urologie berühren sich in der Gegenwart kaum, aber im viktorianischen Zeitalter war es eine Genitalmassage, die der Ärzteschaft verdeutlichte, dass eine auf die Erkrankungen des Unterleibs spezialisierte Ausbildung für Ärzte notwendig war, da ansonsten die Patientinnen Laienheilkundige aufsuchen würden und keine Kliniken. Diese Massage war von dem schwedischen Offizier Thure Brandt in den 1850er-Jahren entwickelt worden. Sie blieb bis nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg ein Thema in deutschen Arztpraxen.