Insecure Attachment and Sexual Satisfaction: A Path Analysis Model Integrating Sexual Mindfulness, Sexual Anxiety, and Sexual Self-Esteem

Abstract

This study examines the intermediary role of three variables (sexual mindfulness, sexual anxiety, and sexual self-esteem) in a path analysis model to explain the association between insecure attachment and sexual satisfaction. A community sample of 543 adults completed an online survey. Results supported our hypothesized integrative model, which explained 44.1% of the variance in sexual satisfaction and presented satisfactory fit indices. This study suggests that the association between attachment insecurities and lower sexual satisfaction could be partially explained by a proximal association with lower sexual mindfulness, which emphasizes the relevance of examining sexual mindfulness during the screening and treatment of people presenting low sexual satisfaction.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2021.2011808 .

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Université du Québec à Montréal. The authors wish to thank Jill Vandermeerschen and Cloé Canivet for their assistance in data analysis, and Léa Séguin for her assistance in the translation process. The authors wish to thank Cloé Canivet and Jill Vandermeerschen for their assistance in data analysis.

Compliance with ethical standards

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

All procedures involving human participants performed in this study were approved by the Université du Québec à Montréal Institutional Ethics Review Board (certificate number: 4025_e_2020).

The manuscript has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration elsewhere.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Université du Québec à Montréal.