Expectations and Sexual Desire in Romantic Relationships: An Experimental Investigation of Pleasure and Emotional Closeness Expectancies among Young Adults

ABSTRACT

Drawing from expectancy-value theory, the current study documented expected likelihoods (i.e., expectancies) of orgasm, non-orgasmic sexual pleasure, and emotional closeness during sex with a romantic partner, then tested their causal roles in sexual desire. Participants (N = 582, 50.3% women) were drawn from college student and online samples of young adults in the US. Expectancies were high overall; men reported much higher orgasm expectancies than women and this gender difference was larger in the college sample. Using a within-subjects, factorial experimental design, hypothetical vignettes manipulated participants’ expectancies (high/low) pertaining to sex with a romantic partner. Multilevel models indicated emotional closeness expectancies had the strongest effects on men’s and women’s desire. Orgasm expectancies had stronger effects among the online sample, yet had the weakest effects on desire overall. Both emotional closeness and non-orgasmic pleasure expectancies had stronger effects on women’s desire than on men’s. Findings indicate young adults’ expectations for their romantic sexual experiences may play strong roles in stimulating or stifling their sexual desire, suggesting some desire differences may be partially explained by differences in expectancies, and underscore sex as an important mechanism for fostering intimacy and experiencing pleasure for both young men and young women. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the invaluable support provided by Dr. Linda Roberts throughout this project.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Behavioral Research Insights Through Experiments (BRITE) Lab.