Sexual+Social+Support

“Social relationships are a ubiquitous part of life, serving important social, psychological, and behavioral functions across a life span” (Uchino et. al, 1996). Social support is necessary for many different parts of the life of the average person, including the many aspects of the average person’s sex life. Sexual Social Support can take many forms. This is due to the many physical and mental effects that sexual acts can create on a human being. Sexual social support can take the form of a weekly group meeting at a local YMCA, support from family and friends, or even an online forum dedicated to specific types of sexual social support. People seek support for many different reasons. There may be men or women seeking social support regarding initial sexual curiosity, pregnancy/abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, sex addiction, homosexuality, pornography addiction, or any other sort of aspect of sex that have effected them physically or mentally for which they would like to seek support. Many of these subjects are hard to talk about with one’s own family or friends, so people tend to seek support elsewhere through support groups and or online forums where they can ask questions and receive the support that they need without feeling embarrassed. Social support can help with coping, and or adapting to a change in one’s life that is effecting him or her mentally or physically in a way that is impossible to do on ones own (Uchino et. al, 1996). ** Why seek Sexual Social Support? **  There have been many studies done that link social support with many different aspects of life to better overall physical and mental health with regards to stress, immune systems, and even cardiovascular disease (Uchino et al, 1996). As with any type of personal dilemma, whether it be pregnancy, sex addiction, alcoholism, drug addiction, or even diabetes, it is important to seek support from other people in order to learn about, and feel better about the dilemma you are addressing. Sexual social support can also do something as simple as just inspiring hope for people that are in situations that may not be very optimal. For example, people with HIV/AIDS know there is no cure for the disease, yet social support can improve the quality of life for that individual by providing a form of hope for that individual, shown through the experiences of other people he or she might meet when seeking support (Yadav, 2010).  ** Family/Friends  ** The leading factor in receiving sexual support is the fact that certain issues can be uncomfortable to talk about. Family and friends are generally common sources of support for many of the more common sexual issues for which they can actually give constructive support. The subject matter in question may be initial sexual curiosity, pregnancy and or abortion, sexual orientation, etc. For example, in a study done by Nathan Doty, Brian Willoughby, Kristin Lindahl, and Neena Malik they showed that lesbian and gay youth preferred to seek support from sexual minority peers and (to a lesser extent) family because they were the most likely to be understanding and supportive than any other group they could go to (Doty et al, 2010). In situations like these, it is more comfortable to talk to people that you know and trust, rather than strangers that can have an unpredictable reaction to one’s situation. As mentioned in lecture for Sexual Communication 368 taught at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign, conversations about things related to sex are not comfortable regardless, so it is natural for peopleto seek help from the people that are closest to them. ** Support Groups  ** Support Groups were started in order to create a place where people with certain addictions, diseases, etc can talk about these things with other people that are experiencing the same thing. With regards to sex addiction support groups, “ In that setting we heard stories similar to ours and realized that recovery from our problem was possible” (Sexual Addicts Annonymous, 2007). Many people with these kinds of problems are not able to comfort themselves, they need the support of other people and the knowledge that other people have gotten through whatever the ailment is in order to feel better about their situation. There are many examples of th ese types of groups, like Sex Addicts Anonymous, sexual abuse support groups, pornography addiction support groups, and Sexually Transmitted Disease support groups, among many others. The emphasis in these groups is communication with peers in order to provide comfort and relief of stress, and they have become very popular throughout the country. ** Online Support  ** With the growing wide spread use of the internet, there has been an increasing amount of online social support groups. These are basically just really large forums that people can post sexual questions and concerns anonymously. There are several of these websites available. There are a couple of problems that could be a potential problem with these forums. For one, anybody can post on these sites, so people may not be getting the best advice that they possibly could. Also, many people do not know about these online support sites, so there is very low traffic and less of a chance for different opinions regarding the subject. Lastly, one of the important things about sexual social support are the personal relationships that one develops with the people around him/her. Online discussion boards are very impersonal, and therefore can give less comfort to the person who is receiving support. The people that are using these boards could still be considered isolated socially, and according to Uchino et. al, stress regarding issues had by isolated individuals is more common and leads to further overall health problems. (Uchino et al, 1996). There are many benefits to these online support groups as well. All of the posts are anonymous, so subjects like pornography addiction, or STDs that may be embarrassing for some people, are discussed without a problem. Also, it is free and very easy to access for people from their homes, so eventually it could be one of the most beneficial places to receive sexual support. A good example of a website like this would be dailystrength.org, which has a forum for a wide variety of sexual issues. **Works Cited** Caciopo, John T., Kiecolt-Glaser, Janice K., Uchino, Bert N. “The Relationship Between Social Support and Physiological Processes: A Review With Emphasis on   Underlying Mechanisms and Implications for Health.” Psychological Bulletin. Vol 119, No. 3,pg. 488-581. 1996.   Daily Strength Online Support Group Website [] Doty, Nathan Daniel, Lindahl, Kristen M., Malik, Neena M., Willoughby, Brian L. B.   “Sexuality Related Social Support Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth.” Empirical Research. Published online 1 July, 2010. Sexual Addicts Anonymous Official Website [] Yadav, Sushil. “Perceived social support, hope, and quality of life of persons living with HIV/AIDS: a case study from Nepal.” Quality of Life Research. Vol. 19, Issue 2, pg. 157-166, March 2010.
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