This doctoral thesis deals with sexual promiscuity in adolescents, and explores its possible relationships with the quality of their contact with parents, attachment styles and affect regulation, and illuminates the treatment of two sexual promiscuous adolescents in the psychotherapy process.
In the theoretical introduction, the literature review first presents the adolescence period and sexual behaviour, as well as the concepts of sexual promiscuity and sociosexual orientation. This is followed by a description of the quality of the relationship with parents and the importance of sex education, followed by a chapter on attachment styles and their portrayal of partner relationships, both in adulthood and adolescence. The theoretical part continues with the part on affect regulation and its role in the field of partnership and sexuality, the theological view of sexuality and sexual promiscuity, and concludes with psychotherapeutic aspects of sexuality and the treatment of sexual promiscuity.
The empirical part covers a quantitative survey in which 307 Slovenian female and male adolescents aged 18–24 participated. Through the SOI-R, RQ, DERS and IPPA questionnaires, the field of sexual prosperity and its possible links with the quality of contact between the adolescent and the parents, their attachment styles and affect regulation were explored. The field is further highlighted in the qualitative work, the phenomenological psychological study and two psychotherapeutic case studies.
The survey found that the rate of sexual promiscuity is higher in male adolescents than in female adolescents, the same was shown for adolescents over 21 years of age, they are more promiscuous than younger adolescents. A lower level of sexual promiscuity can be expected in adolescents who are more satisfied with their communication with their mothers, have a more trusting relationship with them and feel less alienated from them. The survey showed no statistically significant positive association between affect regulation and the degree of sexual promiscuity (except for the association between lower levels of sexual promiscuity and better awareness of emotions and less limited access to successful strategies for regulating emotions) and the attachment style and the degree of sexual promiscuity in adolescents (except between higher levels of sexual promiscuity and dismissive avoidant attachment style).
Qualitative part in a phenomenological psychological study highlights the experience of sexually promiscuous adolescents with their parents, their attachement styles and ways of regulating affect, and their experience of partnering and sexual promiscuity. Case studies are a demonstration of psychotherapy work with sexually promiscuous clients, with an emphasis on interventions to transform dysfunctional relationships with parents and an unsafe attachment style and improve emotional regulation.
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