Navigating Women's Low Desire: Sexual Growth and Destiny Beliefs and Couples' Well-Being

Responsiveness in the Face of Sexual Challenges: The Role of Sexual Growth and Destiny Beliefs

Implicit--or lay--sexual beliefs have been associated with how people respond to sexual challenges in romantic relationships. People who endorse sexual destiny beliefs view a satisfying sex life as the result of finding the right partner and report poorer sexual, relationship, and personal well-being when there are sexual challenges. In comparison, people who endorse sexual growth beliefs view satisfying sexual relationships as requiring hard work and effort to maintain and tend to report high sexual, relationship, and personal well-being even when facing sexual challenges. High sexual responsiveness - being motivated to meet a partner's sexual needs - is associated with maintaining high sexual satisfaction, even when couples face sexual challenges in a relationship. In the current research, we tested whether sexual growth and destiny beliefs are associated with general and sexual responsiveness and whether the associations are moderated by the presence of sexual challenges. Across three (clinical and non-clinical) samples (N = 820) facing different types of sexual challenges (Study 1 (Mage = 31.64, SD = 8.53), clinically low sexual desire; Studies 2 (Mage = 32.63, SD = 10.19) and 3 (Mage = 32.40, SD = 9.31), unmet sexual ideals; Study 3, changes in sex since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic), we found that sexual growth beliefs were associated with higher sexual responsiveness and perceived partner sexual and general responsiveness, even when couples were coping with sexual challenges, whereas sexual destiny beliefs were not associated with responsiveness, and at times were associated with lower sexual responsiveness and perceived partner sexual and general responsiveness. This research provides initial evidence about how implicit sexual beliefs are associated with sexual and general responsiveness when couples are coping with sexual challenges in a romantic relationship.

Is Spontaneous Sex Ideal? Beliefs and Perceptions of Spontaneous and Planned Sex and Sexual Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships

Sexual satisfaction is critical for relationship quality and people hold lay beliefs (implicit theories) about what makes for satisfying sex. A common belief in Western culture is that spontaneous sex is most satisfying, but this idea has not yet been studied. In pre-registered analyses of two studies - a cross sectional (N = 303 individuals) and a 21-day daily experience study (N = 121 couples) - we found support for two distinct beliefs (spontaneous sex as satisfying; planned sex as satisfying). Across both studies, people held stronger beliefs that spontaneous sex is satisfying compared to planned sex, but stronger spontaneous sex beliefs were only associated with higher sexual satisfaction in Study 1. In Study 1, when people perceived their most recent sexual experience as planned (versus spontaneous), they felt less sexually satisfied, but this was not the case for those who endorsed stronger planned sex beliefs. In Study 2, endorsing stronger planned sex beliefs was associated with a partner's lower sexual satisfaction at baseline. There were no associations between perceptions of the extent to which sex was spontaneous and sexual satisfaction at baseline or in daily life. Future research could test whether beliefs about spontaneity and planning have value in clinical settings.

Sexual growth and destiny beliefs: Longitudinal associations with dyadic coping among couples seeking medically assisted reproduction

BACKGROUND

Medically assisted reproduction is a vulnerable time for couples' sexual health. Believing that sexual challenges can be worked through (i.e., sexual growth beliefs) or that these challenges indicate incompatibility (i.e., sexual destiny beliefs) may be related to dyadic coping-the strategies couples use to cope-with the physical and psychological stressors of medically assisted reproduction.

AIM

In the current study we aimed to examine the longitudinal associations between typical (i.e., average) levels of sexual growth and destiny beliefs and positive and negative facets of dyadic coping and how greater than typical levels of these constructs predicted each other across time.

METHODS

Couples (n = 219) seeking medically assisted reproduction were recruited for an online longitudinal, dyadic study.

OUTCOMES

Couples completed online measures of sexual growth and destiny beliefs and positive and negative dyadic coping at baseline, 6-and 12-months.

RESULTS

Random intercept cross-lagged panel models demonstrated that at the within-person level, reporting higher sexual growth beliefs at baseline, relative to their average across time points, was associated with lower negative dyadic coping at 6 months. Higher negative dyadic coping at 6 months, relative to their average, was linked to lower sexual growth beliefs at 12-months. When individuals reported higher sexual destiny beliefs at 6-months, relative to their average, they and their partners reported higher negative dyadic coping at 12 -months. At the between-person level, higher overall levels of sexual destiny beliefs were related to higher overall levels of negative dyadic coping. No associations with positive dyadic coping were identified.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Couples may benefit from identifying and reducing unhelpful beliefs about sex and negative dyadic coping.

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS

Strengths of this study include our large, inclusive sample, engagement of community partners, and novel analytical approach to assess change over time. However, following couples in 6-month increments and not using questionnaires specific to medically assisted reproduction may have limited our ability to detect nuanced changes that couples experience during this time.

CONCLUSION

Lower sexual growth and higher sexual destiny beliefs may promote couples' engagement in less adaptive coping behaviors as they seek medically assisted reproduction.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Couples' Sexual Growth and Destiny Beliefs in the Transition to Parenthood

Beliefs about sexuality tend to become more salient during sexual challenges and are associated with how individuals respond to these difficulties and, in turn, their sexual well-being. The transition to parenthood is marked by significant changes to couples' sexuality. As such, this period of vulnerability may be an important context in which these beliefs impact how couples manage sexual stressors and may have implications for their sexual well-being. In a longitudinal dyadic study, we examined whether couples' sexual growth beliefs (e.g., beliefs that sexual problems can be resolved through effort) and sexual destiny beliefs (e.g., beliefs that sexual problems reflect incompatibility with their partner) correspond with changes to various facets of couples' sexual well-being over time. First-time parent couples (N = 203) completed online surveys assessing these beliefs in pregnancy (32 weeks) and measures of sexual well-being (satisfaction, desire, and distress) in pregnancy (20 and 32 weeks) and across the postpartum period (3, 6, 9, 12 months). Dyadic latent growth curve models showed that expectant mothers who reported stronger sexual destiny beliefs in pregnancy reported higher sexual distress and lower sexual satisfaction at 3 months postpartum. When partners reported stronger sexual destiny beliefs in pregnancy, both they and new mothers reported greater sexual desire at 3 months postpartum. Unexpectedly, partners' higher sexual growth beliefs in pregnancy predicted mothers' lower sexual desire at 3 months postpartum. Sexual growth and destiny beliefs were not associated with change in couples' sexual well-being beyond 3 months postpartum. Findings shed light on the potential benefits and costs of sexual growth and destiny beliefs for couples' sexual well-being early in the postpartum period, but not over time.