Discussing Sexual Health with a Partner: A Qualitative Study with Young Women.
Jennifer Cleary, Richard Barhman, Terry MacCormack, and Ed Herold, University of Guelph.

Twenty-two female heterosexual undergraduate students were interviewed about the health protective sexual communication (HPSC) that did or did not occur with their most recent sexual partner prior to first intercourse. The narratives derived from this qualitative study provided insight into the content and extent of HPSC occurring prior to intercourse, the perceived barriers and facilitators to HPSC, and to the strategies used to initiate such discussions. The analysis of the narratives resulted in the development of ten themes that appeared to encompass the various influences on this communication process. The findings revealed that typically, very little (if any) HPSC occurred prior to first intercourse, that there were numerous perceived barriers to this communication process, and that most of the participants did not have the communication skills necessary to initiate such discussion. (The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 2002; 11: 117-132).

The Sexual Initiation Scale: Development and Initial Validation.
Illona Gossman, University of Montreal, Danielle Julien, University of Quebec at Montreal, Mireille Mathieu, University of Montreal, and Elise Chartrand, University of Quebec at Montreal.

The objective of this study was to develop the Sexual Initiation Scale (SIS), a self-report measure of sexual initiation strategies and factors facilitating initiation behaviours in long-standing marital relationships, and to examine the psychometric properties of the SIS. The first study established the content validity of the SIS. The second study examined the factorial structure, the reliability and construct validity of the SIS. The findings showed good factorial structure and acceptable levels of reliability and construct validity. Directions for future research and clinical implications of the SIS are discussed. (The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 2002; 11: 133-142).

Gender Differences in the Experience of Heterosexual Intercourse.
Gurit E. Birnbaum and Dafna Laser-Brandt, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

This paper describes the development and testing of a self-report scale delineating the components of the experience of heterosexual intercourse for both men and women. In a preliminary study, 70 men freely expressed the feelings, thoughts, and motives involved in the experience of heterosexual intercourse. A content analysis revealed that the components of the experience of heterosexual intercourse found in the men’s sample are very similar to those found in a women’s sample in a previous study (Birnbaum, Glaubman, & Mikulincer, 2001). On this account, the Experience of Heterosexual Intercourse Scale (EHIS), which was used by Birnbaum and her colleagues, was administered to 181 women and 178 men. Overall, the results revealed that the experience of women was more centred on both the aversive and positive relational aspects of heterosexual intercourse than the experience of men. Findings are discussed in relation to sociobiological and social influence theories. (The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 2002; 11: 143-158).

Sexual Harassment Experiences of Psychologists and Psychological Associates During Their Graduate School Training.
Margaret Schneider, Sarah Baker, and Lana Stermac, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

This study investigated the relationship between past experiences of sexual harassment behaviours while in graduate school and the present behaviour of female and male registered psychologists and psychological associates in Ontario, Canada. The Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ) designed by Fitzgerald, Drasgow, and Gelfand (1993) was used to assess sexual harassment experiences. A majority of respondents reported experiencing at least one sexual harassment behaviour exhibited by a faculty member during their graduate school education. However, females were more likely to be targets of sexual harassment behaviours than were males and male faculty were more likely to exhibit these behaviours. Sexual harassment behaviours were more prevalent in settings where it was the norm for students and faculty to socialize, where there was no apparent sexual harassment policy, and where there were relatively low proportions of female faculty. The encouragement of mentoring relationships between students and faculty had no influence on sexual harassment behaviours. Respondents who reported experiencing more sexual harassment behaviours were more likely to report that they, themselves, had engaged in gender harassment in their professional life. Some suggestions are made for increasing the validity of the SEQ. The implications of these findings are explored. (The Canadian journal of Human Sexuality, 2002; 11: 159-170).