Day-to-Day Changes in Intimacy Predict Heightened Relationship Passion, Sexual Occurrence, and Sexual Satisfaction

Rubin, H. B.; Campbell, Lorne

doi:10.1177/1948550611416520

Cited by 135 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…An alternative explanation for this habituation effect could be deduced from Baumeister and Bratslavsky (1999) who argued that passion arises only in the case of increasing intimacy, so that intimacy and passion show typical patterns over the course of a relationship: intimacy in a relationship rises rapidly in the initial periods, but thereafter with a decreasing pace and, therefore, passion is high in the beginning of a relationship, but decreases later on. Given that passion is an essential element for high sexual satisfaction (Rubin & Campbell, 2012), sexual satisfaction will be high in the beginning of a relationship and steadily decline later on with subsiding passion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Sexual Satisfaction Change With Relationship Duration?

2015

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Despite a large body of empirical literature on sexual satisfaction, its development over the course of a relationship is still unclear. Only a small number of studies, most of which have relied on cross-sectional data of convenience samples, have explicitly focused on relationship duration, and empirical evidence is mixed. We analyzed how sexual satisfaction changes over the course of a relationship using three waves of the German Family Panel study (pairfam). We concentrated our analyses on young and middle-aged heterosexual individuals in committed relationships (N = 2,814) and applied fixed effects regression models, which have the advantage of estimations based on changes within individuals over time. We found a positive development of sexual satisfaction in the first year of a relationship, followed by a steady decline. This pattern persisted even when controlling for the frequency of intercourse, although the effects were, in part, mediated by intercourse frequency. We explained the non-linear effect of relationship duration on sexual satisfaction with an initial learning effect regarding partner-specific sexual skills, which is then outweighed by a decline in passion at later stages of a relationship. Moreover, we found significant effects for the control variables of health status, intimacy in couple communication, and conflict style, as expected. In contrast to past research, however, cohabitation and marriage were not found to play a role for sexual satisfaction in our data. Further research is required to deepen the understanding of the reasons why sexual satisfaction changes with relationship duration.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Sexual Satisfaction Change With Relationship Duration?

2015

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“…Second, whereas open, other-focused communication is associated with more rewarding sexual experiences for both partners (e.g., Haavio-Mannila & Kontula, 1997; Larson et al, 1998), people high in narcissism tend to focus their communications on themselves and their needs, rather than the needs of their partners (Vangelisti, Knapp, & Daly, 1990). Third, whereas respect and intimacy are positively associated with sexual satisfaction (Rubin & Campbell, 2012; Zurbriggen, Ramsey, & Jaworski, 2011), people high in narcissism demonstrate tendencies to disrespect and exploit others (Raskin, Novacek, & Hogan, 1991; Raskin & Terry, 1988). Finally, narcissism has been directly linked to two sexual behaviors likely to be associated with decreased sexual satisfaction for partners--sexual aggression (Kosson, Kelly, & White, 1997) and infidelity (Atkins, Baucom, & Christensen, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Implications of Sexual Narcissism for Sexual and Marital Satisfaction

McNulty

Widman

2013

Arch Sex Behav

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There is theoretical reason to believe narcissism is associated with a number of sexual behaviors and outcomes that affect both sexual and relationship satisfaction. Nevertheless, research on the association between personality and behavior demonstrates that personality traits, such as narcissism, only predict behavior in domains that activate the components of the personality system. Given that global assessments of narcissism do not capture the extent to which the components of narcissism are activated in the sexual domain, we examined the extent to which the facets of a domain-specific measure of sexual narcissism accounted for the trajectories of own and partner sexual and marital satisfaction over the first five years of 120 new marriages. Three of the four facets of sexual narcissism (sexual exploitation, sexual entitlement, and low sexual empathy) were negatively associated with both trajectories. The fourth facet (sexual skill) was positively associated with both trajectories. Notably, sexual satisfaction mediated the effect of every facet of sexual narcissism on marital satisfaction. A global assessment of narcissism was not associated with either trajectory of satisfaction. These findings highlight (1) the importance of narcissistic tendencies for sexual processes, (2) the benefits of using domain-specific measures of personality in research on sexual behavior, and (3) the importance of examining the implications of the specific facets of personality constructs.

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“…28 Finally, among long-term heterosexual couples, diary-based day-to-day changes in reported intimacy were associated with relationship passion, sexual satisfaction and sexual frequency. 29 Our own diary work has confirmed event-level variability in physical and emotional motivators, such as being interested in sex or feeling in love, in young women's selection of sexual behaviors. [30][31][32][33][34] The Current Study…”

Section: Linking Sexual Motivations To Sexual Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Daily diary study of adult men’s and women’s event-level sexual motivations and sexual behaviour

Hensel

Harezlak

et al. 2017

Sex. Health

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IntroductionAs they move from adolescence into emerging and early adulthood, men and women continue to be at elevated risk for the adverse outcomes associated with sexual activity. 1 Traditional public health prevention approaches to this risk typically focus on changing an individual's behaviors (e.g. reducing sexual activity or consistent condom and contraceptive use). 2 A significant limitation of this focus, however, is that it obscures how the context of a given romantic/sexual relationship precedes and organizes the decisions people make about sex. 3,4 Many public health agencies now recognize that advancing sexual health requires greater attention to the partnership factors that are associated with STI risk and protection behaviors. [3][4][5] Part of this attention includes examination of how personal-and partner-specific affect motivates individuals to choose, exclude and/or combine specific behaviors as part of their sexual repertoire. 9,10 Background Gender Differences in Sexual MotivationsOver the past two decades, literature has documented a wide range different factors men and women cite as motivations for sexual activity. Some of these studies support gender differences in these motivations, suggesting that physical desirability, sexual pleasure or power, such as feeling "horny," wanting physical release or stress relief, are cited by more men as reasons to have sex, whereas the perceived emotional benefits of sex, such as psychological closeness, bonding, intensify commitment, love or affection, factor more prominently for women. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Other work has found gender similarities in sexual motivations for sex, with many young and adult men report enjoying close emotional ties to sexual partners, 13,14 and many women pursuing specific sexual activities in response to sexual desire specific sexual activities 15,16 Additionally, in a sample of young and emerging adults, 17 both men and women endorse satisfying sexual desires as a primary reason, and feeling in love with a boy/girlfriend as secondary reason, to have sex. 17 Emotional motivations for sex are similarly reported by both men and women. 6,18 Linking Sexual Motivations to Sexual BehaviorsLess is known about how specific sexual motivations link to specific sexual behaviors. In general, studies show that having sex for pleasure is typically associated with more penetrative sexual behaviors, such as men's receiving oral sex, or participating in vaginal or anal sex, whereas endorsing love, intimacy or other emotional reasons for sex is associated with lighter behaviors, such as kissing, genital touching, massage or a woman's receiving oral sex. [18][19][20] Other research has suggested that having sex for intimacy reasons may also be associated with more frequent sex. 18,21,22 Gender differences may exist in these patterns. For example, in a sample of college students, women reporting higher levels of emotional motives, including love and commitment, during sexual interactions involving only oral sex only, or during sexual inter...

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Day-to-Day Changes in Intimacy Predict Heightened Relationship Passion, Sexual Occurrence, and Sexual Satisfaction

Cited by 135 publications

References 23 publications

Does Sexual Satisfaction Change With Relationship Duration?

Does Sexual Satisfaction Change With Relationship Duration?

The Implications of Sexual Narcissism for Sexual and Marital Satisfaction

Daily diary study of adult men’s and women’s event-level sexual motivations and sexual behaviour

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