Reproductive Success, Relationship Orientation, and Sexual Behavior in Heterosexuals: Relationship With Chronotype, Sleep, and Sex

Abstract

Following previous studies, chronotype was related to sexual attitudes and behavior. Evening people tend to be more promiscuous and follow short-term mating strategies and extra-pair matings (EPM), which might lead to a higher reproductive success. In this study, one aim was to assess reproductive success directly by asking for children, and, second, to obtain a higher sample size for the analysis of sexual behavior and chronotype than in previous studies. N = 1,843 heterosexual persons (551 men, 1,288 women, 4 without data) responded to our online survey. Five hundred fifty-nine persons were single and 1,281 in a relationship; 203 reported having children (1.9 ± 0.81). Age was positively related and age at first intercourse was negatively related to the number of children. People being later chronotypes had fewer children, and shorter sleep duration was linked with more children. Extroversion was correlated with number of children, as was the long-term relationship orientation. Sociosexual orientation and EPM were unrelated to number of children. Age at first intercourse was earlier in evening people, and unrestricted sociosexuality was higher in late chronotypes. Morning orientation correlated with long-term relationship orientation and eveningness with short-term relationship orientation. Number of sexual partners was lower in morning people. Men were more evening oriented, later chronotypes, and slept shorter. There were no differences in sociosexual behavior, but men were less restricted in attitude and desire. Men scored higher on short-term relationship orientation and women higher on long-term relationship orientation. This study confirmed previous results about chronotype and sexual behavior but provided the first evidence that morningness was related to higher reproductive success.

Associations between Chronotype, Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and Sexual Opinion among University Students

“…Greater impulsivity and risk-taking have been linked to unrestricted sociosexual orientation (individual differences in willingness to engage in noncommitted sexual relations) [ 62 ]. Delving into sexual attitudes and behaviour, E-type individuals and short sleep duration have been correlated with a tendency to be more promiscuous and to engage in unrestricted sociosexuality [ 63 ] or to exhibit lower levels of fidelity. In our study, we consider another sexual construct, the erotophobia–erotophilia dimension (willingness learned to respond to sexual stimuli along a bipolar continuum of affection and evaluation) [ 50 ].…”

Belief levels in sexual myths in women and effects of myths on sexual satisfaction

“…Success in sexual intercourse is a sign of power in many societies and individuals. The necessity to be successful in sexual intercourse is a widely accepted myth [19,23,25]. In our study, the myth of "success is extremely important in sexuality" was accepted as true by 69.0% of the participants.…”

“…These data show that sexual experiences are not enough to reduce the number and the level of belief on sexual myths, and rehabilitation or training programs should be done on this subject. Some sexual myths are widely considered to be true [20,23,25]. Karabulutlu et al [20] reported that the most common myths were "as long as the couples love each other, they know how to give pleasure in making love" (80%), "sex is good only with a simultaneous orgasm" (75%) and "erection is always a sign for desire" (65%).…”

COVID-19 Pandemic on Fire: Evolved Propensities for Nocturnal Activities as a Liability Against Epidemiological Control

“…This adaptive challenge, among others, could have selected for evening-oriented individuals to be more willing to engage in activities that go against social desirability, such as promiscuity, aggression, rule-breaking behavior, self-interested remorseless, and interpersonal manipulation. In effect, eveningoriented individuals are more prone to casual sex, cross-culturally (Cross, 2010;Piffer, 2010;Ponzi et al, 2015b;Matchock, 2018;Díaz-Morales et al, 2019), have a faster life history strategy (Ponzi et al, 2015b;Marvel-Coen et al, 2018), have first intercourse at an earlier age (Kasaeian et al, 2019), have higher tendencies toward aggression (Schlarb et al, 2014), exhibit higher rulebreaking behavior (Merikanto et al, 2017), and have higher Dark Triad personality traits, that is, Machiavellianism (e.g., exploitative behaviors), narcissism (e.g., self-orientation), and subclinical psychopathy (e.g., lack of empathy and remorse) (Jonason et al, 2013). Men, the more nocturnal sex (Piffer, 2010;Fischer et al, 2017), also exhibit higher propensity to casual sex (Schmitt, 2005;Hughes et al, 2020), higher aggression (Archer, 2004(Archer, , 2019Cross, 2010), and higher Dark Triad personality traits (Furnham et al, 2013).…”