Premature or Rapid Ejaculation
As part of his doctoral research, Dr. Guy Grenier and I collaborated
on research in the area of rapid ejaculation (RE). In our first study, we
assessed the occurrence and relationships among a number of commonly
applied RE criteria in a sample of 112 university men. The correlations
between various measures of RE (e.g., ejaculatory latency and ejaculatory
control) were small suggesting that the criteria are largely independent
and are not interchangeable. We did not find strong support for any
specific pattern of behavior that is related to better ejaculatory control
and longer ejaculatory latencies. Further, a group of experts were not
able to distinguish the ejaculatory delaying techniques of the men with
the poorest control and shortest latencies from those of the men with
the best control and longest latencies.
Similarly, in a study involving a community sample of 260 men, we found
that estimates of the prevalence of RE varied from very few men to more
than half of the sample depending upon which of several criteria were
used to operationalize RE. Twenty-three percent of the men identified
themselves as having a current RE problem. Discriminant function analysis
identified three components to men’s self-identification as having
a current RE problem: a behavioral component, an affective component,
and an efficacy component.
The female partners of 152 of these men also completed a questionnaire.
In general, the women saw RE as less of a problem for the men than their
male partners reported for themselves (e.g., only 10% of the women thought
their partner had a current RE problem). For both the men and the women,
having more characteristics of RE was related to lower sexual satisfaction,
but was unrelated to relationship satisfaction. RE characteristics were
also related to the number of non-RE sexual concerns reported by the
men, but not to the number of sexual concerns reported by their female
partner. However, men and women who identified the man as having an
RE problem rated RE as having only a slightly negative impact on their
own or their partners functioning. The results suggest that, for most
couples, the timing of ejaculation adversely affects sexual satisfaction
but not overall relationship and personal functioning.
Here are our publications in the area:
Byers, E. S. & Grenier, G. (2003). Premature or rapid ejaculation:
Heterosexual couples’ perceptions of men’s ejaculatory behavior.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32, 261-270.
Grenier, G. & Byers, E. S. (2001). Operationalizing premature or
rapid ejaculation. The Journal of Sex Research,
38, 369-378.
Grenier, G. & Byers, E. S. (1997). The relationship among ejaculatory
control, ejaculatory latency, and attempts to prolong heterosexual intercourse.
Archives of Sexual Behavior
, 26, 27-48.
Grenier, G. & Byers, E. S. (1995). Ejaculation: A review of conceptual,
etiological, and treatment issues. Archives of
Sexual Behavior, 24, 447-472.