Relationship and sexual satisfaction: A developmental perspective on bidirectionality

Abstract

Researchers have investigated the directionality between relationship and sexual satisfaction; however, there remains no definitive conclusion. Previous longitudinal studies have not conceptualized relationship and sexual satisfaction as systematic developmental processes and have focused on predicting scores at later time points. Instead, researchers should be concerned with understanding how relationship and sexual satisfaction change together over time. The objective of this study was to use longitudinal data from midlife American marriages to test the directionality of the association between relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction. Multivariate latent growth curve modeling of 1,456 midlife Americans married for 20 years from the Midlife in the United States study was used to compare directionality models. Findings support that long-term, stable marriages of midlife Americans at the sample level were characterized by a linear increase in relationship satisfaction over 20 years and a linear decline in sexual satisfaction during the same time frame. A co-change model, wherein relationship and sexual satisfaction changed together over time, fit the data best. Trajectory correlations showed that changes in relationship and sexual satisfaction were strongly interconnected. High initial levels of sexual satisfaction protected against declines in relationship satisfaction over 20 years. Results support that relationship and sexual satisfaction change together over time and highlight that the longitudinal association between these outcomes is dynamic rather than static.

Keywords

Marriage midlife Americans MIDUS multivariate growth curve relationship satisfaction sexual satisfaction

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ahlborg

Rudeblad

Linnér

Linton

(2008). Sensual and sexual marital contentment in parents of small children—A follow-up study when the first child is four years old. Journal of Sex Research, 45, 295–304.

Arriaga

X. B.

(2001). The ups and downs of dating: Fluctuations in satisfaction in newly formed romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 754.

Arriaga

X. B.

(2013). An interdependence theory analysis of close relationships. In Simpson

J. A.

Campbell

(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of close relationships (pp. 1–47). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

Bach

L. E.

Mortimer

J. A.

VandeWeerd

Corvin

(2013). The association of physical and mental health with sexual activity in older adults in a retirement community. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 10, 2671–2678.

Birnbaum

G. E.

Reis

H. T.

Mikulincer

Gillath

Orpaz

(2006). When sex is more than just sex: Attachment orientations, sexual experience, and relationship quality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 929.

Bollen

K. A.

Curran

P. J.

(2006). Latent curve models: A structural equation perspective (Vol. 467). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Brim

O. G.

Baltes

P. B.

Bumpass

L. L.

Cleary

P. D.

Featherman

D. L.

Hazzard

W. R.

… Shweder

R. A

. (1995-1996). Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 1). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2017-11-16. doi:https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02760.v12

Byers

E. S.

(2005). Relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction: A longitudinal study of individuals in long-term relationships. Journal of Sex Research, 42, 113–118.

Cao

Zhou

Fine

M. A.

Fang

(2018). Sexual satisfaction and marital satisfaction during the early years of Chinese marriage: A three-wave, cross-lagged, actor–partner interdependence model. The Journal of Sex Research, 56, 1–17.

10.

Christopher

F. S.

Sprecher

(2000). Sexuality in marriage, dating, and other relationships: A decade review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62, 999–1017.

11.

Day

L. C.

Muise

Joel

Impett

E. A.

(2015). To do it or not to do it? How communally motivated people navigate sexual interdependence dilemmas. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 791–804.

12.

DeLamater

Hyde

J. S.

(2004). Conceptual and theoretical issues in studying sexuality in close relationships. In Harvey

J. H.

Wenzel

Sprecher

(Eds.), The handbook of sexuality in close relationships (pp. 17–40). Mahwah, NJ: Psychology Press.

13.

Diamond

(2013). Sexuality in relationships. In Simpson

J.A.

Campbell

(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of close relationships (pp. 1–53). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

14.

Duck

Sants

(1983). On the origin of the specious: Are personal relationships really interpersonal states?. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 1, 27–41.

15.

Enders

C. K.

(2010). Applied missing data analysis. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

16.

Fallis

E. E.

Rehman

U. S.

Woody

E. Z.

Purdon

(2016). The longitudinal association of relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction in long-term relationships. Journal of Family Psychology, 30, 822.

17.

Fincham

Rogge

Beach

(2018). Relationship satisfaction. In Vangelisti

Perlman

(Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 422–436). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316417867.033

18.

Finkel

E. J.

Simpson

J. A.

Eastwick

P. W.

(2017). The psychology of close relationships: Fourteen core principles. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 383–411.

19.

Glenn

N. D.

(1998). The course of marital success and failure in five American 10-year marriage cohorts. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 569–576.

20.

Grimm

K. J.

Ram

Estabrook

(2016). Growth modeling: Structural equation and multilevel modeling approaches. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

21.

Hansson

Ahlborg

(2012). Quality of the intimate and sexual relationship in first-time parents–A longitudinal study. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 3, 21–29.

22.

Henderson-King

D. H.

Veroff

(1994). Sexual satisfaction and marital well-being in the first years of marriage. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11, 509–534.

23.

Hertzog

Lindenberger

Ghisletta

von Oertzen

(2006). On the power of multivariate latent growth curve models to detect correlated change. Psychological Methods, 11, 244.

24.

Huston

T. L.

Caughlin

J. P.

Houts

R. M.

Smith

S. E.

George

L. J.

(2001). The connubial crucible: Newlywed years as predictors of marital delight, distress, and divorce. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 237.

25.

Huston

T. L.

Houts

R. M.

(1998). The psychological infrastructure of courtship and marriage: The role of personality and compatibility in romantic relationships. In Bradbury

T. N.

Weiss

R. L.

(Eds.), The developmental course of marital dysfunction (pp. 114–151). Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.

26.

Hyde

J. S.

(2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60, 581.

27.

Impett

E. A.

Muise

Peragine

(2014). Sexuality in the context of relationships. APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, 1, 269–315.

28.

Jackson

J. B.

Miller

R. B.

Oka

Henry

R. G.

(2014). Gender differences in marital satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76, 105–129.

29.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

(1995a). The longitudinal course of marital quality and stability: A review of theory, methods, and research. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 3.

30.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

(1995b). Assessing longitudinal change in marriage: An introduction to the analysis of growth curves. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 1091–1108.

31.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

(1997). Neuroticism, marital interaction, and the trajectory of marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 1075.

32.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

(2000). Attributions in marriage: State or trait? A growth curve analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 295.

33.

Kline

R. B.

(2015). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

34.

Korkmaz

Goksuluk

Zararsiz

(2014). MVN: An R package for assessing multivariate normality. The R Journal, 6, 151–162.

35.

Laumann

E. O.

Paik

Rosen

R. C.

(1999). Sexual dysfunction in the United States: Prevalence and predictors. Journal of the American Medical Association, 281, 537–544.

36.

Laurenceau

J. P.

Barrett

L. F.

Rovine

M. J.

(2005). The interpersonal process model of intimacy in marriage: A daily-diary and multilevel modeling approach. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 314.

37.

Lavner

J. A.

Bradbury

T. N.

(2010). Patterns of change in marital satisfaction over the newlywed years. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 1171–1187.

38.

Lavner

J. A.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

(2014). Relationship problems over the early years of marriage: Stability or change?. Journal of Family Psychology, 28, 979.

39.

Lawrance

K. A.

Byers

E. S.

(1995). Sexual satisfaction in long-term heterosexual relationships: The interpersonal exchange model of sexual satisfaction. Personal Relationships, 2, 267–285.

40.

Lee

Whittaker

T. A.

(2018). Statistical power of the multiple domain latent growth model for detecting group differences. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 25, 700–714.

41.

Little

T. D.

(2013). Longitudinal structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

42.

MacCallum

R. C.

Wegener

D. T.

Uchino

B. N.

Fabrigar

L. R.

(1993). The problem of equivalent models in applications of covariance structure analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 185.

43.

McClelland

S. I.

(2011). Who is the “self” in self reports of sexual satisfaction? Research and policy implications. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 8, 304.

44.

McNulty

J. K.

Wenner

C. A.

Fisher

T. D.

(2016). Longitudinal associations among relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and frequency of sex in early marriage. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45, 85–97.

45.

Mitchell

C. M.

Beals

Kaufman

C. E.

(2006). Alcohol use, outcome expectancies, and HIV risk status among American Indian youth: A latent growth curve model with parallel processes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 726–737.

46.

Muise

Maxwell

J. A.

Impett

E. A.

(2018). What theories and methods from relationship research can contribute to sex research. The Journal of Sex Research, 55, 540–562.

47.

Rosseel

(2012). lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 1–36. Retrieved from http://www.jstatsoft.org/v48/i02/.

48.

Rubin

Campbell

(2012). Day-to-day changes in intimacy predict heightened relationship passion, sexual occurrence, and sexual satisfaction: A dyadic diary analysis. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3, 224–231.

49.

Ryff

Almeida

D. M.

Ayanian

Carr

D. S.

Cleary

P. D.

Coe

… Williams

(2004-2006). Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2017-11-20. doi:https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04652.v7

50.

Ryff

Almeida

Ayanian

Binkley

Carr

D. S.

Coe

… Williams

(2013-2014). Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 3). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2017-11-21. doi:https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36346.v6

51.

Schmiedeberg

Schröder

(2016). Does sexual satisfaction change with relationship duration?. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45, 99–107.

52.

Sprecher

(2002). Sexual satisfaction in premarital relationships: Associations with satisfaction, love, commitment, and stability. Journal of Sex Research, 39, 190–196.

53.

Sprecher

Cate

R. M.

(2004). Sexual satisfaction and sexual expression as predictors of relationship satisfaction and stability. In Harvey

J. H.

Wenzel

Sprecher

(Eds.), The handbook of sexuality in close relationships (pp. 235–256). Mahwah, NJ: Taylor & Francis.

54.

Thibaut

J. W.

Kelley

H. H.

(1959). The social psychology of groups. Oxford, UK: John Wiley.

55.

Tolman

D. L.

McClelland

S. I.

(2011). Normative sexuality development in adolescence: A decade in review, 2000–2009. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21, 242–255.

56.

Vaillant

C. O.

Vaillant

G. E.

(1993). Is the U-curve of marital satisfaction an illusion? A 40-year study of marriage. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55, 230–239.

57.

Vowels

L. M.

Mark

K. P.

(2018). Relationship and sexual satisfaction: A longitudinal actor–partner interdependence model approach. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 1–14. Advance Online Publication. doi:10.1080/14681994.2018.1441991

58.

Vrieze

S. I.

(2012). Model selection and psychological theory: A discussion of the differences between the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Psychological Methods, 17, 228.

59.

Wincze

J. P.

Carey

M. P.

(2001). Sexual dysfunction: A guide for assessment and treatment: Treatment manuals for practitioners. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.

60.

Wood

N. D.

Crane

D. R.

Schaalje

G. B.

Law

D. D.

(2005). What works for whom: A meta-analytic review of marital and couples therapy in reference to marital distress. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 33, 273–287.

61.

Schimmele

C. M.

(2005). Repartnering after first union disruption. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 27–36.

62.

Yeh

H. C.

Lorenz

F. O.

Wickrama

K. A. S.

Conger

R. D.

Elder

G. H.

Jr . (2006). Relationships among sexual satisfaction, marital quality, and marital instability at midlife. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 339.

63.

Yuan

K. H.

Chan

Bentler

P. M.

(2000). Robust transformation with applications to structural equation modelling. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 53, 31–50.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.28 MB