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Differential patterns of amygdala and ventral striatum activation predict gender-specific changes in sexual risk behavior.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Victor, EC; Sansosti, AA; Bowman, HC; Hariri, AR
Published in: The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
June 2015

Although the initiation of sexual behavior is common among adolescents and young adults, some individuals express this behavior in a manner that significantly increases their risk for negative outcomes including sexually transmitted infections. Based on accumulating evidence, we have hypothesized that increased sexual risk behavior reflects, in part, an imbalance between neural circuits mediating approach and avoidance in particular as manifest by relatively increased ventral striatum (VS) activity and relatively decreased amygdala activity. Here, we test our hypothesis using data from seventy 18- to 22-year-old university students participating in the Duke Neurogenetics Study. We found a significant three-way interaction between amygdala activation, VS activation, and gender predicting changes in the number of sexual partners over time. Although relatively increased VS activation predicted greater increases in sexual partners for both men and women, the effect in men was contingent on the presence of relatively decreased amygdala activation and the effect in women was contingent on the presence of relatively increased amygdala activation. These findings suggest unique gender differences in how complex interactions between neural circuit function contributing to approach and avoidance may be expressed as sexual risk behavior in young adults. As such, our findings have the potential to inform the development of novel, gender-specific strategies that may be more effective at curtailing sexual risk behavior.

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Published In

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1529-2401

ISSN

0270-6474

Publication Date

June 2015

Volume

35

Issue

23

Start / End Page

8896 / 8900

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Ventral Striatum
  • Sexual Behavior
  • Sex Characteristics
  • Risk-Taking
  • Regression Analysis
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Oxygen
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Male
 

Citation

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ICMJE
MLA
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Victor, E. C., Sansosti, A. A., Bowman, H. C., & Hariri, A. R. (2015). Differential patterns of amygdala and ventral striatum activation predict gender-specific changes in sexual risk behavior. The Journal of Neuroscience : The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 35(23), 8896–8900. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0737-15.2015
Victor, Elizabeth C., Alexandra A. Sansosti, Hilary C. Bowman, and Ahmad R. Hariri. “Differential patterns of amygdala and ventral striatum activation predict gender-specific changes in sexual risk behavior.The Journal of Neuroscience : The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience 35, no. 23 (June 2015): 8896–8900. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0737-15.2015.
Victor EC, Sansosti AA, Bowman HC, Hariri AR. Differential patterns of amygdala and ventral striatum activation predict gender-specific changes in sexual risk behavior. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2015 Jun;35(23):8896–900.
Victor, Elizabeth C., et al. “Differential patterns of amygdala and ventral striatum activation predict gender-specific changes in sexual risk behavior.The Journal of Neuroscience : The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, vol. 35, no. 23, June 2015, pp. 8896–900. Epmc, doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0737-15.2015.
Victor EC, Sansosti AA, Bowman HC, Hariri AR. Differential patterns of amygdala and ventral striatum activation predict gender-specific changes in sexual risk behavior. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2015 Jun;35(23):8896–8900.

Published In

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1529-2401

ISSN

0270-6474

Publication Date

June 2015

Volume

35

Issue

23

Start / End Page

8896 / 8900

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Ventral Striatum
  • Sexual Behavior
  • Sex Characteristics
  • Risk-Taking
  • Regression Analysis
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Oxygen
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Male