A Dyadic Analysis of Sexual Assertiveness and Sexual Outcomes in Adolescent Romantic Relationships

ABSTRACT

Amid adolescence, youth are developing the relational skills necessary to form and maintain positive intimate relationships. Sexual assertiveness is a key skill that could be related to couples’ sexual outcomes (i.e. sexual satisfaction, sexual concerns, and sexual function). However, dyadic studies are lacking, and associations between sexual assertiveness and adolescents’ sexual health and well-being remain underexplored. This cross-sectional dyadic study examined associations between dimensions of sexual assertiveness and sexual outcomes in adolescent romantic relationships. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model guided analyses of self-reported questionnaires from 110 romantic dyads (aged 14–19 years; M = 16.51). Participants’ gender was considered in the models, and gender differences emerged in the associations between study variables. Path analyses revealed that sexual needs and desires communication, refusal of unwanted sex, sexual intimacy initiation, and comfort talking about sex have significant actor and partner effects on adolescents’ sexual outcomes in mixed-gender dyads. These findings suggest that authentically expressing one’s own sexual needs, desires, and limits in adolescence may influence not only one’s own sexual satisfaction, sexual concerns, and sexual function, but also their partner’s. The aforementioned dimensions of sexual assertiveness could be important targets for research-based interventions to promote sexual health and well-being in adolescent romantic relationships.

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank the adolescents who participated in this project.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data Availability Statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/nd3gv/?view_only=e558ccfabc8b4f51ae37d4e893f6cbcb

Supplementary Data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2023.2282620

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [grant number 435-2018-0858] awarded to Mylène Fernet; and by a doctoral research scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Fonds de recherche du Québec–Société et Culture awarded to S. Couture. Martine Hébert is supported by the Canada Research Chair Program.