Rose Colored Glasses: An Exploration of the Relationship between Sexual Nostalgia and Sexual Satisfaction

ABSTRACT

Sexual satisfaction contributes significantly to one’s quality of life and offers a variety of mental and physical health benefits. Consequently, numerous studies have examined ways to improve sexual satisfaction. However, no research has investigated how sexual nostalgia (i.e., “the sentimental longing for or wistful reflection on past sexual memories,” p. 1539) with one’s current partner impacts sexual satisfaction. Thus, this program of research was designed to develop the Sexual Nostalgia Inventory, assess the relationship between sexual nostalgia and sexual satisfaction, and to examine the moderating role of romantic attachment. The results of Study One (N = 227) indicated that the content of sexual memories can be conceptualized into one factor. The results from Study Two (N = 619) revealed that sexual nostalgia was positively related to sexual satisfaction and that romantic attachment moderated these relationships. In particular, the positive association between sexual nostalgia and satisfaction was greatest for those insecurely attached (i.e., those high in anxious and avoidant attachment). These findings have important implications for researchers looking to establish the causal link between nostalgia and satisfaction and clinicians working with couples experiencing low sexual desire and/or unmet sexual needs.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data Availability Statement

Data and materials are available on the PIs OSF page. Please see text for hyperlink.

Notes

¹ The percentages may not add to 100 due to the ability to “check all that apply.”

² The percentages may not add to 100 due to the ability to “check all that apply.”

³ Because of the small but significant correlation between sexual nostalgia and relationship length (r = −.12, p = .01), relationship length was included a covariate into both PROCESS models.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota Duluth via the internal funding mechanism.