The Sexuality and AIDS Research Unit (Salusex-Unisexsida)
from the Universitat de València and the Jaume I de
Castelló (UJI) has created Adisex, the first digital
platform in the Spanish-speaking area and pioneer
worldwide for online assessment and treatment of
addiction to cybersex.
The Salusex-Unisexsida research unit has detected
that 10% of adolescents who use the Internet for
sexual purposes have risk profiles.
“Adisex will make it easier for anyone from anywhere
in the world to carry out a first self-assessment to
know if he or she presents a clinical risk profile
or merely a recreational use,” says Rafael Ballester,
lecturer and coordinator of Salusex-Unisexsida and
the research group “Health Psychology: Prevention
and Treatment” at the UJI.
Ballester, who is also dean of the UJI Faculty of
Health Sciences, emphasizes that pathologies related
to sex "usually have associated social stigmas". For
this reason, Adisex allows a completely anonymous
diagnosis so that people can know if their use of
cybersex is healthy, similar to the consumption of
traditional pornography, or it can generate problems
of dependence or interference in daily life, and
even if it requires intervention for their
treatment.
"This self-assessment is then contrasted with a
clinical interview conducted from our unit,
authorized as a health centre by the Valencial
regional government, which can also be carried out
at a distance through our digital platform,"
explains the lecturer, who emphasizes that therapy
can be done both online and in person.
On her behalf, María Dolores Gil, lecturer from the
Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education
at the Universitat de València and
Salusex-Unisexsida coordinator in València, points
out "the need to educatel through affective-sexual
education programmes addressed to our adolescents,
in a healthy use of cybersex avoiding the risks that
can derive from it."
Cybersex is a growing phenomenon in today's society
with a significant impact on young people, both men
and women. In fact, researchers from
Salusex-Unisexsida at the UJI and the UV have
detected that 10% of adolescents who use the
Internet for sexual purposes have levels of risk of
addiction.
The results of this study, entitled “Cybersex in the
Net Generation. Online sexual activities among
Spanish adolescents,” have been published in the
scientific journal Computers in Human Behavior and
show the impact of the Internet and social networks
on the development of sexual behaviors of young
women and men. Cristina Giménez-García,
Salusex-Unisexsida researcher and UJI lecturer, says
that there is a greater percentage of young people
who use the Internet to develop their sexuality than
one might imagine. The percentage is higher in the
case of boys, with a use close to 60%, while in the
case of girls it is 13%.
Online sex can generate benefits for sexual health,
but it can also favour dependencies or danger
behaviors in the offline environment. Researchers at
the UJI have found that Spanish adolescents "are
easily able to break the digital barrier to
establish physical links and to have sex with people
they do not know by engaging in unsafe behaviors for
HIV transmission," says Cristina Giménez-García.
The Research Unit on Sexuality and AIDS (Salusex-Unisexsida)
from the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) and the
Universitat de València is coordinated by the
lecturers Rafael Ballester and María Dolores Gil and
is focused on three fundamental lines of work.
Firstly, the study of sexuality in both the general
population and specific groups (gay, lesbian and
bisexual population, transsexuals, and male sex
workers), as well as the development and evaluation
of prevention programmes and psychological
intervention in sexual health: HIV infection,
unwanted pregnancies, homophobia, paraphilia, sexual
dysfunction, sex addiction and cybersex. Finally,
they also address the preparation and validation of
assessment tools on different aspects of human
sexuality and other health behaviours.
See
also
Smartphones: are you a nomophobe? (2015-09-04)
Link...
For more information
ADISEX
Adicciones Sexuales
Link...
Universitat do València
Link...
UJI - Universitat Jaume I
Link...
Computers in Human Behavior
Cybersex in the “Net generation”: Online sexual
activities among Spanish adolescents
Link...
MDN |