The Role of Men’s Sexual Beliefs on Sexual Function/Dysfunction: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Cognitive models of sexual dysfunction postulate that inflexible, unrealistic, and erroneous sexual beliefs work as a vulnerability factor for the development of sexual dysfunctions and existing studies give some support to this hypothesis. However, to date, there is no published systematic review of studies testing the association between men’s sexual beliefs and sexual functioning. This systematic review was conducted from searches using EBSCO, PubMed, and Web of Science databases identifying peer-reviewed studies and gray literature sources from inception to November 2021. Twenty cross-sectional studies, assessing correlations between the degree of endorsement of sexual beliefs and sexual functioning and comparing endorsement of sexual beliefs in men with and without sexual problems were included. Despite the small effect sizes, results indicate that higher endorsement of inflexible/unrealistic/erroneous sexual beliefs is associated with poorer sexual functioning and that men presenting with sexual problems tend to report higher endorsement of these sexual beliefs. Further research with clinical samples as well as longitudinal studies are necessary to explore the ways these associations emerge and develop. The state of evidence on this research topic, including gaps and limitations, is discussed.