Disputing the Notion of Psychopathology Among Women Married to Hypersexual Men Using the MMPI-2-RF

Abstract

This article offers a report disputing the notion that women who are married to hypersexual men exhibit a constellation of pathological symptoms, although it is likely they experience marital distress. The authors measured psychopathology using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form and marital satisfaction using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The authors failed to find evidence supporting a common belief that wives of hypersexual men have their own pathology. Wives of hypersexual men, however, were significantly more distressed about their marriages compared with the controls in this study. Overall, these findings contradict a characterization of wives of hypersexual men as being more depressed, anxious, chemically dependent, or otherwise dysfunctional.

Notes

*p < .01 (two-tailed).