Sex (Is Not) On Fire: The Mediating Role of Cognitive Schemas Between Symptoms of Endometriosis and Sexual Distress

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the cognitive schemas activated in sexual situations as mediating factors in the relationship between endometriosis symptoms and sexual distress. N=173 women diagnosed with endometriosis, who had a sexually active status during data collection, took part in the research. The survey consisted of a demographic data sheet, the ENDOPAIN-4D, the Questionnaire of Cognitive Schema Activation in Sexual Context and the Female Sexual Distress Scale - Desire/Arousal/Orgasm questionnaires. The results of the Structural Equation Modeling technique indicate that the mediation model does not show a good model fit with our data. We do not see this explanatory power regarding the relationship between pelvic pain and sexual distress sexual, or between bowel pain and sexual distress. Based on the complex indirect effect, maladaptive cognitive schemas mediate the relationship between pain during sexual intercourse and sexual distress, as well as the relationship between other symptoms of endometriosis and sexual distress.

Keywords

• endometriosis symptoms
• maladaptive cognitive schemas
• sexual distress
• structural equation modeling