Individual and family functioning in affective-sexual development

The aims of this study were (a) to study and compare contextual factors (family functioning), individual traits (personality and anxiety) and affective-sexual relationship in late adolescence, (b) to explore the engaged couple accordance level in above mentioned areas, (c) to examine gender differences. Forty late adolescents (20 engaged couples) participated in the study. FADFamily Assessment Device (Epstein et al.,1983), ASQ-anxiety scale (Krug et al.,1979), EPQ-R (Eysenck et al.,2004), BFO (Caprara et al.,1994) and SESAMO questionnaire (Boccadoro et al.,1996) to evaluate sexual-affective profiles were completed. Results showed positive correlation between above mentioned factors and sexual interactions. With reference to gender differences, girls showed higher anxiety levels than boys. With reference to the accordance level, the engaged couples show very high indexes in affective and sexual variables. These results suggest that a high index of accordance level, more than others factors, is a core component of good couple functioning.