Consensual nonmonogamy (CNM) is an increasingly popular relationship option and a burgeoning topic within relationship science. However, retrospective designs have limited our ability to draw conclusions about the consequences of opening up a romantic relationship to other partners. In a longitudinal study, 233 individuals who were planning to engage in CNM, but who had not done so yet, were tracked over 2 months. We compared participants’ relational, sexual, and personal well-being before versus after opening up and between participants who did (n = 155) versus did not (n = 78) open up their relationships over the course of the study. Those who engaged in CNM experienced significant increases in sexual satisfaction, particularly if they did so with the explicit goal of addressing sexual incompatibilities within their relationships. We found no evidence that engaging in CNM impacted either life satisfaction or relationship quality with the primary partner.
AikenL. S.WestS. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage.
2.
AmatoP. R.PrevitiD. (2003). People’s reasons for divorcing: Gender, social class, the life course, and adjustment. Journal of Family Issues, 24, 602–626.
3.
BalzariniR. N.CampbellL.KohutT.HolmesB. M.LehmillerJ. J.HarmanJ. J.AtkinsN. (2017). Perceptions of primary and secondary relationships in polyamory. PLoS One, 12, e0177841.
4.
CollinsN. L.FeeneyB. C. (2004). A safe haven: An attachment theory perspective on support seeking and caregiving in intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 1053–1073.
5.
ConleyT. D.MatsickJ. L.MoorsA. C.ZieglerA. (2017). Investigation of consensually nonmonogamous relationships: Theories, methods, and new directions. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 205–232.
6.
ConleyT. D.MoorsA. C. (2014). More oxygen please! How polyamorous relationship strategies might oxygenate marriage. Psychological Inquiry, 25, 56–63.
7.
ConleyT. D.MoorsA. C.MatsickJ. L.ZieglerA. (2013). The fewer the merrier? Assessing stigma surrounding consensually non-monogamous romantic relationships. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 13, 1–30.
8.
ConleyT. D.PiemonteJ. L.GusakovaS.RubinJ. D. (2018). Sexual satisfaction among individuals in monogamous and consensually non-monogamous relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 35, 509–531.
9.
ConleyT. D.ZieglerA.MoorsA. C.MatsickJ. L.ValentineB. (2013). A critical examination of popular assumptions about the benefits and outcomes of monogamous relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 17, 124–141.
10.
CoontzS. (2007). The origins of modern divorce. Family Process, 46, 7–16.
11.
CupachW. R.ComstockJ. (1990). Satisfaction with sexual communication in marriage: Links to sexual satisfaction and dyadic adjustment. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7, 179–186.
12.
DavisD.ShaverP. R.WidamanK. F.VernonM. L.FolletteW. C.BeitzK. (2006). “I can’t get no satisfaction”: Insecure attachment, inhibited sexual communication, and sexual dissatisfaction. Personal Relationships, 13, 465–483.
13.
DienerE.EmmonsR. A.LarsenR. J.GriffinS. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.
14.
DrigotasS. M.RusbultC. E.WieselquistJ.WhittonS. W. (1999). Close partner as sculptor of the ideal self: Behavioral affirmation and the Michelangelo phenomenon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 293–323.
15.
EastonD.HardyJ. W. (2009). The ethical slut: A practical guide to polyamory, open relationships, and other adventures. Celestial Arts.
16.
EdwardsL. J.MullerK. E.WolfingerR. D.QaqishB. F.SchabenbergerO. (2008). An R2 statistic for fixed effects in the linear mixed model. Statistics in Medicine, 27, 6137–6157.
17.
FinkelE. J.HuiC. M.CarswellK. L.LarsonG. M. (2014). The suffocation of marriage: Climbing Mount Maslow without enough oxygen. Psychological Inquiry, 25, 1–41.
18.
FitzsimonsG. M.FishbachA. (2010). Shifting closeness: Interpersonal effects of personal goal progress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 535–549.
19.
GableS. L.GonzagaG. C.StrachmanA. (2006). Will you be there for me when things go right? Supportive responses to positive event disclosures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 904–917.
20.
GrahamN. (2014). Polyamory: A call for increased mental health professional awareness. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43, 1031–1034.
21.
HaupertM. L.MoorsA. C.GesselmanA. N.GarciaJ. R. (2017). Estimates and correlates of engagement in consensually non-monogamous relationships. Current Sexual Health Reports, 9, 155–165.
22.
HendrickS. S. (1988). A generic measure of relationship satisfaction. Journal of Marriage and Family, 50, 93–98.
23.
LaurenceauJ. P.BarrettL. F.PietromonacoP. R. (1998). Intimacy as an interpersonal process: The importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1238–1251.
24.
LawranceK.ByersE. S. (1995). Sexual satisfaction in long-term heterosexual relationships: The interpersonal exchange model of sexual satisfaction. Personal Relationships, 2, 267–285.
25.
MatsickJ. L.ConleyT. D.ZieglerA.MoorsA. C.RubinJ. D. (2014). Love and sex: Polyamorous relationships are perceived more favourably than swinging and open relationships. Psychology & Sexuality, 5, 339–348.
26.
McCabeC.KimD.KingK. (2018). Improving present practices in the visual display of interactions. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1, 147–165.
27.
MogilskiJ. K.MemeringS. L.WellingL. L. M.ShackelfordT. K. (2017). Monogamy versus consensual non-monogamy: Alternative approaches to pursuing a strategically pluralistic mating strategy. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46, 407–417.
28.
MoorsA. C. (2017). Has the American public’s interest in information related to relationships beyond “the couple” increased over time?The Journal of Sex Research, 54, 677–684.
29.
MoorsA. C.MatsickJ. L.SchechingerH. A. (2017). Unique and shared relationship benefits of consensually non-monogamous and monogamous relationships: A review and insights for moving forward. European Psychologist, 22, 55–71.
30.
MuiseA.ImpettE. A.KoganA.DesmaraisS. (2012). Keeping the spark alive: Being motivated to meet a partner’s sexual needs sustains sexual desire in long-term romantic relationships. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 267–173.
31.
PéloquinK.ByersE. S.CallaciM.TremblayN. (2019). Sexual portrait of couples seeking relationship therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 45, 120–133.
32.
ReisH. T.GableS. L. (2015). Responsiveness. Current Opinion in Psychology, 1, 67–71.
33.
RodriguesD.FasoliF.HuicA.LopesD. (2017). Which partners are more human? Monogamy matters more than sexual orientation for dehumanization in three European countries. Sexual Research and Social Policy, 15, 504–515.
34.
RosnerB. (1995). Fundamentals of biostatistics. Duxbury Press.
35.
SchechingerH. A.SakalukJ. K.MoorsA. C. (2018). Harmful and helpful therapy practices with consensually non-monogamous clients: Toward an inclusive framework. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86, 879–891.
36.
SéguinL. J.BlaisM.GoyerM.-F.AdamB. D.LavoieF.RodrigueC.MagontierC. (2017). Examining relationship quality across three types of relationship agreements. Sexualities, 20, 86–104.
37.
SmithT. W.DavernM.FreeseJ.MorganS. (2018). General social survey, 2014–2018. National Opinion Research Center[Producer and Distributor]. Data accessed from the GSS Data Explorer website athttps://gssdataexplorer.norc.org
38.
SprecherS.ReganP. C. (1998). Passionate and companionate love in courting and young married couples. Sociological Inquiry, 68, 163–165.
39.
TaorminoT. (2008). Opening up: A guide to creating and sustaining open relationships. Cleis Press.
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.
