When sex isn't the answer: Examining sexual compliance, restraint, and physiological stress

ABSTRACT

Past research suggests that sexual activity has numerous health benefits; however, we argue that the association between sexual behavior and health is nuanced. More specifically, we argue that when individuals comply with their partner's sexual desire, sex may have unintended negative health consequences. As such, we evaluated how sexual desire and frequency interact to predict individuals' cortisol levels (i.e. a physiological measure of stress) in romantic relationships. Sixty-four participants (38 women, 26 men) who were in generally good health provided salivary cortisol samples and completed questionnaires assessing sexual behavior. As hypothesized, multiple regression analyses confirmed that the interaction between desired and actual sexual frequency predicted cortisol; participants who reported higher sexual frequency than desired (i.e. sexual compliance) had higher cortisol than participants whose desired and actual frequency matched. Interestingly, participants who reported lower frequency than desired (i.e. sexual restraint) had cortisol levels similar to participants whose desired and actual frequency matched. Overall, the results suggest that being sexually compliant (i.e. engaging in more frequent sex than desired) may be stressful and thus lead to negative physiological consequences.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual compliance
• sexual restraint
• cortisol
• sexual frequency
• sexual desire

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Annelise M. Carlin, Traci A. Giuliano, Estrella V. Thomas, and Michelle Cincunegui Legator for their help in the data collection process and for their helpful feedback on early versions of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Additional multiple regression analyses were run controlling for frequency of masturbation in the last four weeks and for relationship length. Neither frequency of masturbation in the last four weeks (β = 0.003, SE = 0.003, p = .314) nor relationship length (β = 0.000, SE = 0.000, p = .124) predicted cortisol. When controlling for both masturbation frequency and relationship length, the interaction between desire and frequency predicting cortisol remained significant (β = −0.007, SE = 0.003, p = .048; β = −0.007, SE = 0.003, p = .034, respectively).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna J. Hartmann

Anna J. Hartmann received her BSc degree in biology and psychology from Southwestern University, USA.

Erin E. Crockett

Erin E. Crockett is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Southwestern University, USA.