The Role of Dyadic Sexual Desire Similarity in Predicting Sexual Behaviors in Cohabitating Couples: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Figures & data

Table 1. Sexual Initiations, Receptivity to Partner's Sexual Initiations, and Partnered Sexual Behaviors in Couples. Descriptive Statistics at the Prompt Level.

	Descriptive statistics
	Men		Women
	N	%	N	%
Sexual initiative	861	100	829	100
Verbal	248	28.8	261	31.5
Behavioral	613	71.2	568	68.5
Receptivity to partner’s initiative	774	100	926	100
Positive response	432	55.8	471	50.9
Negative response	8	1	18	1.9
No response	13	1.7	41	4.4
No sexual initiative	211	27.3	264	28.5
Missing response	110	14.2	132	14.3
Partnered sex	449	100	453	100
Genital touch	375	83.5	393	86.8
Masturbating together	52	11.6	66	14.6
Oral sex	229	51	229	50.6
Penetrative sex	281	62.6	279	61.6

Figure 1. Men’s and women’s dyadic sexual desire across the day, averaged over participants and days.

Table 2. Prediction of Men’s and Women’s Sexual Initiations by Similarity in Actor’s (A) and Partner’s (P) Dyadic Sexual Desire at a Previous Assessment Point.

	Parameter estimates
Parameter	Estimate	SE	z-value	Sig.	Surface values		Sig.
Men taking the initiative to have sex
Intercept	− 1.91	0.13	− 14.67	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	0.28	0.05	5.98	< .001	a1	0.54	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	0.26	0.04	6.18	< .001	a2	0.04	.190
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	0.01	0.02	0.24	.809	a3	0.01	.832
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	0.01	0.02	0.66	.511	a4	0.03	.339
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	0.03	0.02	1.41	.158	a5	− 0.01	.606
Women taking the initiative to have sex
Intercept	− 2.11	0.13	− 16.68	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	0.35	0.04	8.08	< .001	a1	0.64	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	0.28	0.05	6.03	< .001	a2	0.00	.990
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	0.01	0.02	0.01	.993	a3	− 0.07	.279
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	0.02	0.02	1.19	.233	a4	0.00	.999
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	− 0.02	0.02	− 1.10	.271	a5	−0.04	.108

Table 3. Prediction of Men’s and Women’s Responses to Partner’s Sexual Initiations by Similarity in Actor’s (A) and Partner’s (P) Dyadic Sexual Desire at a Previous Assessment Point.

	Parameter estimates
Parameter	Estimate	SE	z-value	Sig.	Surface values		Sig.
Men’s responses to sexual initiative by their partner
Intercept	− 0.76	0.21	− 3.59	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	− 0.21	0.10	− 2.16	.031	a1	− 0.06	.656
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	0.15	0.09	1.58	.113	a2	0.00	.999
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	0.01	0.04	0.10	.921	a3	− 0.36	.006
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	0.03	0.04	0.72	.469	a4	− 0.01	.906
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	− 0.03	0.03	− 0.91	.363	a5	− 0.06	.257
Women’s responses to sexual initiative by their partner
Intercept	− 0.61	0.20	− 3.09	.002
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	− 0.29	0.08	− 3.40	.001	a1	− 0.51	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	− 0.22	0.09	− 2.41	.016	a2	0.10	.056
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	0.04	0.04	0.94	.345	a3	0.07	.525
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	0.01	0.03	0.08	.940	a4	0.03	.638
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	0.07	0.03	2.00	.045	a5	0.06	.195

Table 4. Prediction of Men’s and Women’s Partnered Sexual Activity by Similarity in Actor’s (A) and Partner’s (P) Dyadic Sexual Desire at a Previous Assessment Point.

	Parameter estimates
Parameter	Estimate	SE	z-value	Sig.	Surface values		Sig.
Men’s engagement in partnered sexual activity
Intercept	− 2.81	0.11	− 24.93	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	0.33	0.06	5.40	< .001	a1	0.73	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	0.39	0.06	7.03	< .001	a2	− 0.04	.255
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	− 0.03	0.02	− 1.53	.127	a3	− 0.06	.429
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	− 0.02	0.02	− 0.89	.376	a4	0.03	.455
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	0.01	0.02	0.62	.539	a5	− 0.03	.294
Women’s engagement in partnered sexual activity
Intercept	− 2.77	0.11	− 25.31	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	0.38	0.05	7.01	< .001	a1	0.70	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	0.32	0.06	5.43	< .001	a2	− 0.04	.246
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	− 0.02	0.02	− 1.08	.282	a3	− 0.06	.448
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	0.01	0.02	0.36	.722	a4	0.01	.851
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	− 0.02	0.02	− 1.12	.262	a5	− 0.03	.296

Table 5. Prediction of men’s and women’s responses to partner’s sexual initiations by similarity in actor’s (A) and partner’s (P) dyadic sexual desire moderated by perceived partner support (PPS) at a previous assessment point.

	Parameter estimates
Parameter	Estimate	SE	z-value		Sig.	Surface values			Sig.
Men’s responses to sexual initiative by their partner at average levels of PPS at t-1
Intercept	− 0.76	0.21	− 3.53	<.001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	− 0.17	0.10	− 1.71	.087
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	0.15	0.10	1.56	.118
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	0.01	0.04	0.12	.906
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	0.02	0.04	0.49	.621
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	− 0.03	0.04	− 0.97	.331
t-1 PPS A	− 0.08	0.11	− 0.67	.502
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * PPS A	0.01	0.06	0.22	.828
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P * PPS A	0.07	0.07	1.02	.306
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A*P * PPS A	− 0.02	0.03	− 0.81	.418
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2 *PPS A	− 0.01	0.03	− 0.10	.920
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2 *PPR A	− 0.01	0.03	− 0.08	.936
Women’s responses to sexual initiative by their male partner at average levels of PPS at t-1
Intercept	− 0.58	0.21	− 2.73	.006
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	− 0.32	0.09	− 3.40	.001		a1	− 0.59	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	− 0.27	0.10	− 2.83	.005		a2	0.08	.216
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	0.05	0.05	1.09	.277		a3	0.05	.703
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	− 0.05	0.04	− 1.23	.219		a4	− 0.01	.846
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	0.09	0.04	2.48	.013		a5	0.14	.014
t-1 PPR A	0.04	0.13	0.29	.770
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * PPS A	− 0.03	0.08	− 0.31	.756
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P * PPS A	− 0.08	0.07	− 1.12	.259
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A*P * PPS A	− 0.02	0.03	− 0.52	.602
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2 *PPS A	0.08	0.03	2.28	.023
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2 *PPS A	− 0.01	0.03	− 0.06	.951
Women’s responses to sexual initiative by their male partner when PPS levels at t-1 were low (−1 SD)
Intercept	− 0.54	0.22	− 2.41	.016
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	− 0.33	0.10	3.28	.001		a1	− 0.70	< .001
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	− 0.37	0.12	− 2.97	.003		a2	0.16	.013
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	0.04	0.05	1.01	.312		a3	− 0.03	.835
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	0.03	0.04	0.71	.475		a4	0.06	.426
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	0.08	0.04	2.04	.041		a5	0.07	.308
t-1 PPR A	0.01	0.12	0.09	.930
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * PPS A	− 0.04	0.07	− 0.60	.547
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P * PPS A	− 0.09	0.06	− 1.52	.129
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A*P * PPS A	− 0.01	0.03	− 0.29	.772
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2 *PPS A	0.07	0.03	2.00	.045
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2 *PPR A	0.01	0.02	0.09	.928
Women’s responses to sexual initiative by their male partner when PPS levels at t-1 were high (+1 SD)
Intercept	− 0.72	0.27	− 2.68	.007
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A	− 0.35	0.13	2.78	.006
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P	− 0.23	0.12	− 1.95	.051
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * P	0.06	0.06	0.98	.328
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2	− 0.09	0.06	− 1.51	.130
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2	0.10	0.05	2.16	.031
t-1 PPS A	0.08	0.11	0.72	.469
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A * PPS A	0.02	0.07	0.21	.832
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P * PPS A	− 0.03	0.07	− 0.49	.624
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A*P * PPS A	− 0.02	0.03	− 0.63	.529
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire A^2 *PPS A	0.05	0.03	1.85	.064
t-1 Dyadic sexual desire P^2 *PPS A	− 0.01	0.02	− 0.39	.694

Data availability statement

Research data for this project has been made available on DataVerseNL platform (https://dataverse.nl/) under the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.34894/IMRDQK