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JAA 20(1):75-90 (1992)

Associations between Sexual Experiences and Fantasies in a Nonpatient Population: A Preliminary Study

Authors: Ethel S. Person MD, Nettie Terestman D.S.W., Wayne A. Myers MD, Eugene Goldberg MD, Michael Borenstein PhD

Abstract

We have been interested in devising some methodology short of psychoanalytic therapy to study the relationship of conscious fantasy to personality trends and behavior. Presented here is a pilot study, utilizing the questionnaire technique, the sample consisting of 193 students enrolled at one prestigious urban university, that reports on the prevalence and content of conscious sexual fantasies in a normal (nonpatient) population and their relationship to sexual behaviors.
Factor analysis suggested four experience and four fantasy clusters. Those individuals who score high on one experience factor are apt to score high on all other experience factors as well. The same is true of the fantasy factors.
* Ethel S. Person, Training and Supervising Analyst, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research; Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
Nettie Terestman, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
Wayne A. Myers, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical Center; Training and Supervising Analyst, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
Eugene L. Goldberg, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Training and Supervising Analyst, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
Michael Borenstein, Director of Biostatistics, Hillside Hospital.
This research has been supported by two grants from the Foundation for Psychoanalytic Research and The American Psychoanalytic Association and grant No. 903-E556 from the Biomedical Research Support Grant, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc.
Page 75
Our findings indicate that low sexual activity and low levels of sexual fantasy go together, whereas more sexual experience is connected to a greater range of sexual fantasy. Consequently, erotic fantasies cannot be viewed as compensation for lack of sexual o

JAA 20(1):75-90 (1992)

Associations between Sexual Experiences and Fantasies in a Nonpatient Population: A Preliminary Study

Authors: Ethel S. Person MD, Nettie Terestman D.S.W., Wayne A. Myers MD, Eugene Goldberg MD, Michael Borenstein PhD

Abstract

We have been interested in devising some methodology short of psychoanalytic therapy to study the relationship of conscious fantasy to personality trends and behavior. Presented here is a pilot study, utilizing the questionnaire technique, the sample consisting of 193 students enrolled at one prestigious urban university, that reports on the prevalence and content of conscious sexual fantasies in a normal (nonpatient) population and their relationship to sexual behaviors.
Factor analysis suggested four experience and four fantasy clusters. Those individuals who score high on one experience factor are apt to score high on all other experience factors as well. The same is true of the fantasy factors.
* Ethel S. Person, Training and Supervising Analyst, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research; Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
Nettie Terestman, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
Wayne A. Myers, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical Center; Training and Supervising Analyst, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
Eugene L. Goldberg, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Training and Supervising Analyst, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.
Michael Borenstein, Director of Biostatistics, Hillside Hospital.
This research has been supported by two grants from the Foundation for Psychoanalytic Research and The American Psychoanalytic Association and grant No. 903-E556 from the Biomedical Research Support Grant, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc.
Page 75
Our findings indicate that low sexual activity and low levels of sexual fantasy go together, whereas more sexual experience is connected to a greater range of sexual fantasy. Consequently, erotic fantasies cannot be viewed as compensation for lack of sexual o