Marie-Aude Boislard

• Ph.D. Developmental Psychology
• Professor (Full) at University of Quebec in Montreal

This study examined whether being bullied by peers in childhood and adolescence was associated with sexual depression in adulthood, and whether this relationship was mediated by shame, social anxiety, and body dissatisfaction, and moderated by gender. A large sample of adults ( N = 1210, M age = 27.07 years, SD = 7.87, 44.8% cisgender men, 47.9% ci...

In Canada, the highest increases in rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and substance use disorders occur among emerging adults aged 18 to 29 years old. Most research on risk-taking behaviors have focused on adolescents or males only—especially gay and bisexual men. This study aimed to assess patterns of sexual and substance use risk-ta...

Virgin young adult men (VYAM) are often stigmatized for deviating from the social clock. Despite the importance of media in young adults’ lives, few studies have examined media representations of VYAM, and none have yet examined the numerous memes about virgin adults. Memes are sets of visual and cultural elements diffused and replicated on the int...

Objectives: This paper examines family victimization, well-being, and resilience among sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents and emerging adults aged 15 to 29 years. Methods: Self-reported data were collected online (2019-2020) from 1,971 Canadian SGM youths. We used logistic regression to estimate the odds of: (a) having experienced family...

First sex is most often defined by first penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI) among cisgender heterosexual individuals or first anal intercourse among cisgender men who have sex with men. The importance given to penetration and PVI as the markers of first sex has contributed to the invisibility of women who have sex with women’s (WSW) sexualities. Eigh...

Sexualized drug use (SDU) has been associated with various motivations (e.g. coping with emotional distress, enhancing sexual functioning) and factors related to sexo-relational well-being (e.g., sexual satisfaction, performance anxiety). However, there is a lack of comprehensive models exploring associations between motivations for SDU and sexo-re...

The incel population comprises men experiencing involuntary celibacy who mingle based on their challenges in establishing romantic connections. Despite the current issues plaguing incel forums (e.g., violent content), they were originally conceived as platforms for social support to alleviate loneliness among sexually inexperienced individuals. How...

The forums of involuntary celibates (incels) are easily accessible and increasingly receiving attention from media, scholars, and non-incels, mostly for their troubling content against women. This study aimed to (a) qualitatively describe the different impressions of visitors and (b) quantitively examine the sociodemographic characteristics associa...

According to the social clock and statistical norms, a transition into sexual activity after age 18 years is considered late. This longitudinal study examines whether late sexual transition is related to delays in the achievement of developmental tasks and lower psychological well-being in emerging adulthood for heterosexual individuals. A sample o...

Au Canada, 23 % des jeunes de minorités sexuelles et de genre (MSG) rapportent avoir été exposé·e·s au harcèlement au travail (HT). Or, les formes de HT sont rarement distinguées et les études traitent souvent des jeunes MSG comme un seul groupe homogène. Grâce à des analyses de profils latents, cette étude vise à examiner les profils de HT chez 10...

Scholars are at the beginning stages of understanding the trajectory of incels' deradicalization process. This study aimed to gain insight into the trajectories of individuals who have left or expressed a desire to leave inceldom, by focussing on the turning points that propel incels to deradicalize from the misogynistic ideology associated with in...

Research on sexual minorities has demonstrated that they face greater risks of experiencing poorer mental health due to minority stress factors, but there has been limited investigation into how these factors affect the well-being of asexual individuals. This study addressed this gap by examining whether shame played a mediating role in the relatio...

This study investigates the correlates of statistics anxiety. Considering that statistics anxiety and spatial anxiety have been separately correlated with related constructs (e.g., mathematics anxiety, academic performance, etc.), the possibility that spatial anxiety plays a role in statistics anxiety is explored. When facing statistics or mathemat...

Sexual dysfunctions (SD; e.g., female sexual interest/arousal disorder, erectile disorder, female orgasmic disorder, delayed ejaculation, genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder, etc.) affect up to a third of individuals, impairing sexuality, intimate relationships, and mental health. This study aimed to compare the prevalence of SDs and their sexu...

Martel, N., Dussault, É., Lafortune, D., Boislard, M.-A., Godbout, N., Philibert, M., et Goyette, M. (2022, octobre). Sexual health service seeking among Quebec adults living with a sexual dysfunction [Data Blitz]. Forum canadien de recherche sur la sexualité, Waterloo, ON, CA

Résultats issus d'une étude sur le regard sur les vécus d'adultes émergent.e.s vierge.

Cette infographie explore à la fois les perceptions des professionnel.les et les stratégies d'intervention possibles, tout en soulignant la nécessité pour les intervenant.es de s'ouvrir et s'intéresser à la diversité des expériences sexuelles de leurs patient.es.

Résultats issus d'une étude sur sur la sexualité des femmes ayant des relations sexuelles avec des femmes

This study focused on sexual aversion (SA) – namely the experience of fear, disgust, and avoidance when exposed to sexual contexts or cues – and aimed to validate a virtual environment’s ability to progressively trigger the typical emotional responses of SA. Thirty-nine participants (16 low-SA and 23 high-SA individuals) were immersed in a virtual...

Despite sexual imperatives and social norms marginalizing non-sexualities – referred to as compulsory sexuality –, representations of sexually inexperienced emerging adults (SIEA) in works of fiction have been overlooked. The goal of this research was to document media representations of SIEA in popular fictional television series and movies in a c...

The current ‘compulsory sexuality’ paradigm (Gupta, 2015) presumes that all adults have sex and marginalizes disclosure of sexual inexperience or inactivity in adulthood. Recent studies have revealed that virgin adults experience stigma (Fuller et al., 2019; Gesselman et al., 2017). Because fictional television series and movies convey several mess...

Martel, N., Dussault, É., Boislard, M.-A., Godbout, N., Philibert, M., Goyette, M., et Lafortune, D. (2022, mai). Recherche de services en santé sexuelle d’adultes vivant avec une dysfonction sexuelle [affiche]. 2e Colloque relations interpersonnelles : sexualité et parentalité du Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les problèmes conjugaux e...

Dans le cadre de cette étude, nous avons analysé les représentations liées à la virginité de plusieurs personnages de séries et films populaires, tel.le.s que Jane dans Jane The Virgin, Sam dans Atypical et April dans Grey's Anatomy.

Nous avons publié une étude où nous avons analysé des scripts liés à la virginité de personnages populaires auprès de jeunes adultes dans des séries télé et flms.

Nous avons publié une étude où nous avons analysé des scripts liés à la virginité de personnages populaires auprès de jeunes adultes dans des séries télé et films.

Rates of sexual inexperience in early adulthood are increasing (De Graaf et al., 2021; Lambert et al., 2016; Meuwly et al., 2021; Twenge et al., 2017; Twenge & Park, 2019). Sexual inexperience is still a source of stigma (6-8), perceived as non-normative (7) and depicted as such in TV and movies (9). Research on sexual inexperience remains scarce a...

Social clock theory posits that off-time transitions, such as virginity loss, are often socially reproached and stigmatized. Research suggests, however, that reasons for virginity in adulthood are heterogeneous and that some emerging adult virgins (EAVs) are struggling socially. To guide the development of interventions tailored to this population,...

Limited instruments are available to assess sexual mindfulness (i.e., state of mindfulness during sexual interactions) and understand its links with psychosexual well-being. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a French version of the Sexual Mindfulness Measure (SMM) (Leavitt et al., 2019) and its relation to psychos...

This study examines the intermediary role of three variables (sexual mindfulness, sexual anxiety, and sexual self-esteem) in a path analysis model to explain the association between insecure attachment and sexual satisfaction. A community sample of 543 adults completed an online survey. Results supported our hypothesized integrative model, which ex...

La réalité virtuelle (RV) est utilisée pour évaluer et traiter efficacement plusieurs troubles mentaux (ex:troubles anxieuxoualimentaires; Freeman et al., 2017). Or, la prise en charge des difficultés sexuelles par la RV demeure un domaine de recherche peu exploré(Lafortune et al., 2020). Cette étude porte sur l’aversion sexuelle (AS) –soit l’expér...

Résumé Les adultes émergents sont une des populations les plus touchées par les infections sexuellement transmissibles (IST), mais beaucoup d’entre eux n’ont jamais eu recours au dépistage. Objectif La présente étude vise à identifier les facteurs de risque sociodémographiques et individuels (c.-à-d. nombre de partenaires sexuels à vie, traits de...

Introduction: A growing body of evidence supports the relationship between insecure attachment and sexual dissatisfaction (e.g., Gewirtz-Maydan & Finzi-Dottan, 2018; Mark et al., 2018; Péloquin et al., 2014). Yet, it remains unclear which psychosexual mechanisms explain this association. This study examines the role of three mediators (sexual mindf...

Although sexual anxiety (SA) is associated with significant sexual and relationship difficulties, to date, we lack brief scales to adequately assess SA. The aim of the present study was to develop a brief and reliable French version of the Sexual Anxiety Scale (SAS) that can be used to screen the manifestations of SA and their severity. A community...

Although sexual anxiety (SA) is associated with significant sexual and relationship difficulties, to date, we lack brief scales to adequately assess SA. The aim of the present study was to develop a brief and reliable French version of the Sexual Anxiety Scale (SAS; Fallis et al., 2011) that can be used to screen the manifestations of SA and their...

First sex is often defined by first penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI) among cisgender heterosexual individuals or first anal intercourse among cisgender men who have sex with men. The importance given to penetration as the marker of the transition to active partnered sexuality (TAPS) has contributed to the invisibility of women who have sex with wom...

This study examined how adolescents' sexual trajectories are associated with achievement of emerging adulthood developmental tasks (educational attainment, full-time employment, romantic involvement) and psychosocial outcomes (problems with alcohol, depression, self-esteem). Trajectories (identified in a previous report by Rossi, Poulin, & Boislard...

Socially withdrawn children are more likely to be heterosexually inactive in early adulthood. This study aimed to test a three-mediator model. We hypothesized that social withdrawal during childhood would hinder a sense of social competence in early adolescence, limiting other-gender friendships in mid-adolescence, in turn limiting involvement in r...

Recent research has highlighted that off-time sexual transitions such as maintaining virginity into adulthood are often experienced as a stigma. Based on stigma and identity theories, adult virginity is conceptualized as a concealable and stigmatized identity. The literature on concealable stigmatized identities emphasizes the significance of their...

The current study examined the relations between observed normativity and deviance during adolescents' and young adults' conversations about sex with their friends and their individual perceptions of sexual peer norms. Participants were 16-21-year-old same-sex friendship dyads (31 male and 30 female dyads) who performed a peer interaction task that...

Purpose Little is known about the longitudinal association between early first heterosexual intercourse (e.g., intercourse before the age of 15 years) and alcohol use during adolescence and young adulthood. This study sought to determine whether early first heterosexual intercourse is associated with (1) frequency of alcohol use at age 16 years, (2...

Adolescent sexual development is not the same across the board, and can be seen as both normative as well as risky behavior, depending on factors such as age of onset and number of partners. This longitudinal study identified developmental trajectories of annual number of sexual partners from adolescence to emerging adulthood and their antecedents....

L’objectif de cet article est de présenter une mise à jour sur l’utilisation des méthodes contraceptives, y compris la contraception d’urgence, chez les femmes sexuellement actives qui fréquentent les cégeps et les universités du Québec. Cet article puise dans deux études sur la santé sexuelle menées en milieu collégial et universitaire (ESS-UQAM e...

Poster presented at the annuel conference of Canadian Sex Research Forum (CSRF)

Youth sexuality has been primarily studied with a focus on its potential public health issues, such as sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies, and its comorbidity with other risky behaviors. More recently, it has been studied as a normative step in romantic partnerships, either pre- or post-marital, as well as outside the context...

Relationships between victimization, termination of pregnancy (ToP), diagnosis of sexually transmitted infection (STI), and emergency contraceptive use were examined using data from a survey of university students in Montreal, Canada. Female students who had been sexually active in the past two years with at least one male partner were included (n...

Many scholars have called for an increased focus on positive aspects of sexual health and sexuality. Using a longitudinal design with two assessments, we investigated patterns of entitlement to sexual partner pleasure and self-efficacy to achieve sexual pleasure among 295 young men and women aged 17-25 years attending one Australian university. We...

Objectives: The objectives of this review are to (1) document health outcomes among sexual-minority youth (SMY) in Canada; and (2) identify sexual-minority-specific risk and protective factors. Data sources: We conducted a review of Canadian data published after 2005 on the mental, physical and sexual health outcomes of SMY using relevant keywor...

Poster presented at the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) meeting, Miami (United States)

RESUMO Objetivos: Os objetivos deste artigo científi co são (1) documentar os desfechos de saúde entre jovens de minorias sexuais (SMY-sigla em inglês) no Canadá; e (2) identifi car os fatores de risco e de proteção específi cos para as minorias sexuais. Fontes de dados: Realizamos uma revisão de dados canadenses publicados após 2005 sobre os desfe...

Research on sensitive topics like sexuality is subject to diverse biases related to the characteristics of the participants (i.e. age, gender, beliefs about sexuality, etc.), the measurement selected (i.e. diary, questionnaire, interview, biological tests), and the wording, interpretation and specificity of the behaviors assessed. Although typical...

This study had three goals: (a) assessing the predictive association of externalizing and internalizing behaviors during childhood with sexual onset during early adolescence; (b) examining the interactive link of externalizing and internalizing behaviors with early sexual onset; and (c) investigating the moderating effect of gender in this context....

Les relations amoureuses a ` l'a ˆge adulte e ´mergent présentent une certaine continuité avec les relations familiales et amicales vécues antérieurement (Seiffge-Krenke, Overbeek & Vermulst, 2010). La présente e ´tude examine cette continuité en appliquant le modèle triangulaire de l'amour de Sternberg (1986, 1988, 2006), qui inclut les dimensions...

Les relations amoureuses à l'âge adulte émergent présentent une certaine continuité avec les relations familiales et amicales vécues antérieurement (Seiffge-Krenke, Overbeek & Vermulst, 2010). La présente étude examine cette continuité en appliquant le modèle triangulaire de l'amour de Sternberg (1986, 1988, 2006), qui inclut les dimensions d'intim...

The most common dating goals of adolescents are identity, intimacy, status and sex. In this study of Australian youth (16-30 years, N = 208), dating goals were expected to explain goal-consistent behavior in each domain. Also, goals coupled with consistent behavior were expected to be associated with greater satisfaction in each domain. Age, gender...

Poster presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) meeting

Emerging literature on dating goals suggests that young people have different reasons to date and that their dating goals orient both their behaviors and are important to attainment of life satisfaction. Four dating goals have received previous empirical support among late adolescents and emerging adults: intimacy, identity, social status and sexua...

Sexual subjectivity (SS) includes sexual body-esteem, entitlement to self-pleasure and pleasure from a partner,sexual self-efficacy, and reflection about sexual behavior. The objectives of this study were to examine iffemales' SS was associated with their romantic experience, including status, length, quality, and same-sex sexualexperience. Partici...

Sexual self-perceptions are important aspects of sexuality, which can undergo significant change during adolescence and early adulthood. The purpose of this study was to describe these changes among girls (N = 251; ages 16-25) over one year, and to examine associations of sexual self-perceptions (sexual subjectivity) with age, sexual behavior, and...

This study examined the unique and simultaneous contribution of adolescents' characteristics, parent-child relationship and friends' characteristics on early sexual intercourse, while accounting for family status. A longitudinal multi-sample design was used. The first sample was recruited in a suburban context (n = 265; 62% girls) and the second sa...

Cette thèse porte sur les facteurs psychosociaux associés d'une part à la précocité sexuelle et d'autre part aux pratiques sexuelles exposant les jeunes aux grossesses imprévues et aux infections transmissibles sexuellement (ITS), soit le mauvais usage du condom et les partenaires sexuels multiples. De récentes études ont démontré que des facteurs...

In this study, two longitudinal models of early adolescent risky sexual behaviors (RSB) were compared using a pooled sample of 267 Canadian and Italian adolescents (55% females; 53% Canadians) assessed yearly from grade 8 to 10. We focused on parenting practices (monitoring, control, limit setting), adolescent problem behaviors (antisocial behavior...

L’objectif de la présente étude est d’évaluer l’impact du style interpersonnel du partenaire et du sentiment de compétence sur la motivation sexuelle, ainsi que l’impact subséquent de la motivation sexuelle sur la satisfaction sexuelle. Cent cinquante étudiants universitaires ont complété un questionnaire investiguant ces dimensions de leur sexuali...