Inês Tavares

• PhD Student
• PhD Student at University of Porto

Sexual well-being contributes to satisfying relationships, yet commonly declines in long-term couples. According to theory, effective coregulation of emotions promotes couples’ sexual well-being. Accurately perceiving a partner’s affect (i.e., mood, emotions)—empathic accuracy—may be fundamental to coregulating emotions and promotes intimacy; thus,...

Touch is a universal nonverbal action often used by romantic partners to demonstrate affection and care for each other. Attitudes toward touch might be particularly relevant across periods of relational strain—such as the transition to parenthood—when couples face many novel stressors and shifting priorities which can interfere with their sexual an...

Background Psychological difficulties, including depression, anxiety, and somatization, are among the most important predictors for women's sexual function (i.e., arousal, desire, lubrication, pain, and satisfaction) and sexual distress. These associations have largely been studied at the construct level, with little research examining which specif...

Introduction: Prostate cancer is the second-most prevalent cancer diagnosis worldwide among males. Although prostate cancer affects the physical, sexual, and mental health of patients, the impact of prostate cancer on partners has also been increasingly recognized. Hence, taking a dyadic approach is of relevance. Moreover, there is evidence of the...

This scoping review aimed to map existing dyadic studies on the psychosocial adaptation of couples to prostate cancer.

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 se...

There is limited understanding of the dynamic between relational and sexual well-being as couples adjust to new parenthood, despite this being a vulnerable period for couples' relationships. This study was aimed at examining the bidirectional links between relationship quality and sexual well-being (i.e., sexual satisfaction, sexual distress) acros...

Pregnancy and postpartum are associated with declines in body image. Research on postpartum body image focuses almost exclusively on the person who gave birth and studies examining protective factors for postpartum body image are scarce. We assessed 257 new-parent couples from mid-pregnancy to 6-months postpartum to examine whether mindfulness-a re...

There is limited understanding of the dynamic between relational and sexual well-being as couples adjust to new parenthood, despite this being a vulnerable period for couples’ relationships. This study was aimed at examining the bidirectional links between relationship quality and sexual well-being (i.e., sexual satisfaction, sexual distress) acros...

Pregnancy and postpartum are associated with declines in body image. Research on postpartum body image focuses almost exclusively on the person who gave birth and studies examining protective factors for postpartum body image are scarce. We assessed 257 new-parent couples from mid-pregnancy to 6-months postpartum to examine whether mindfulness—a re...

The prevailing narrative about sexual declines during the transition to parenthood is largely based on studies assessing the average couple, but there is increasing evidence of variability in the sexual well-being of new parents. We sought to establish distinct subgroups of couples based on sexual function and sexual distress trajectories and exami...

The prevailing narrative about sexual declines during the transition to parenthood is largely based on studies assessing the average couple, but there is increasing evidence of variability in the sexual well-being of new parents. We sought to establish distinct subgroups of couples based on sexual function and sexual distress trajectories and exami...

Objectives The Female Sexual Distress Scale is one of the most widely used self-report instruments to assess sexual distress. This scale has been validated across populations, but no version for use in the Portuguese population is available to date. The aim of this study was to develop a Portuguese version of the scale—herein called the Sexual Dist...

Objectives The Female Sexual Distress Scale is one of the most widely used self-report instruments to assess sexual distress. This scale has been validated across populations, but no version for use in the Portuguese population is available to date. The aim of this study was to develop a Portuguese version of the scale—herein called the Sexual Dist...

This qualitative study explores experiences of intimacy and sexuality during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic of 3357 participants from Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey. Data were collected through open-ended questions within a survey on sexuality during the pandemic. Based on a ref...

Objectives: This study examined the trajectory of perinatal depressive symptoms in Portuguese women during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of individual, relational, and contextual risk and protective factors. Methods: This 3-wave longitudinal study followed 290 pregnant women from the third trimester of pregnancy until 6-months postpartum. Wome...

Background The Female Sexual Distress Scale and the Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised—herein called the Sexual Distress Scale (SDS and SDS-R)—are among the most widely used self-report instruments to assess sexual distress, but no version for use in the Portuguese population is available to date. Aim The current study aimed to validate the Port...

Recent findings suggest that the current COVID-19 pandemic has a potential negative impact in several areas of life, including sexual health. However, less is known about the psychological dimensions that may work as vulnerability/protective factors for the development of sexual problems in the current pandemic. The current study used a longitudina...

Detrimental biopsychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on populations have been established worldwide. Despite research indicating that the transition to parenthood is a vulnerable period for maternal and paternal health, an in-depth examination of the specific challenges the pandemic poses for new mothers and fathers is still lacking. Using...

Despite sexual activity being safe for the majority of expectant couples (i.e., the pregnant individual and their partner), negative attitudes toward having sex during pregnancy are common and are related to lower sexual well-being across this vulnerable life period. Using dyadic response surface analysis in a sample of 254 first-time expectant cou...

Background Past research has revealed the detrimental effects of social isolation and physical distancing measures in health related outcomes. However, only recently COVID-19 confinement measures provided a context to test whether such detrimental effects exist in the human sexuality domain. Aim This study was aimed at testing the relationship bet...

Background The Maternal and Partner Sex During Pregnancy Scales (MSP/PSP) are self-report measures of expectant couples’ attitudes towards sex during pregnancy. Aim This study aimed to examine dyadic non-independence of MSP/PSP scores in a sample of expectant couples, while providing an evaluation of factor structure, validity, and reliability of...

Background: Orgasmic difficulties are one of the most common sexual complaints among women. Although models of sexual dysfunction propose that cognitive-affective factors are involved in the development and maintenance of sexual difficulties, there is a need to further examine how these factors are associated with orgasmic difficulties specificall...

Introduction Cognitive factors are conceptualized as playing a role in maintaining psychological disorders—including sexual dysfunction—by influencing the way in which individuals ascribe meaning, and ultimately respond, to sexual events. Objectives To systematically review and integrate the findings from studies on cognitive processing factors an...

Background/objective: The transition to parenthood encompasses several psychological and relational changes that might contribute to couples' high levels of stress postpartum. Although common across the postpartum, couples' sexual changes are frequently overlooked. Method: We surveyed 255 mixed-sex new parent couples to examine the associations...

Nature Reviews Urology (NRU) Best Poster Prize, Female

Infrared thermography (IRT) is a non-contact technique that permits mapping and analysis of the temperature of the body's skin surface. This method has been applied to sexual psychophysiology since the 1980s and its use has been expanding ever since, mainly because it provides several advantages over existing genital response measures. This article...

Background: The differential role of psychological traits in the etiology and maintenance of female orgasm difficulties is yet to be consistently established. Aim: To investigate the contribution of different psychological trait features (personality, sexual inhibition and excitation, and sexual beliefs) to predict female orgasm and to assess th...

Background: Cognitive-affective factors contribute to female sexual dysfunctions, defined as clinically significant difficulties in the ability to respond sexually or to experience sexual pleasure. Automatic thoughts and affect presented during sexual activity are acknowledged as maintenance factors for these difficulties. However, there is a lack...