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Emotion Regulation and Sexual Well-being Among Women: Current Status and Future Directions

  • Female Sexual Dysfunction and Disorder (A Stanton, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Emotion regulation is a key contributor to social functioning and mental health; yet, its influence on sexual well-being has only recently gained research attention. To elucidate correlates of women’s sexual satisfaction, desire, frequency, function, and distress and guide future study, the present review evaluates research at the intersection of emotion regulation and sexual well-being.

Recent Findings

There are clear associations between mood and sexual well-being, with the interference of negative emotion on sexual outcomes stronger for women relative to men. Although there is evidence that women’s poorer emotion regulation abilities are related to poorer sexual well-being, associations between specific emotion regulation strategies and sexual outcomes are less established, possibly due to the abundance of regulatory strategies and dearth of research on emotion regulation in sexual contexts. Still, our review suggests that women’s greater sexual well-being is positively associated with strategies characterized by adaptive engagement (e.g., problem solving, acceptance, reappraisal) and negatively associated with strategies characterized by disengagement (e.g., avoidance, suppression, distraction) and aversive cognitive perseveration (e.g., worry, rumination).

Summary

Extant research is consistent with models of women’s sexual response and offers preliminary support for the emotion regulation–sexual well-being link. While the explanatory power of the current literature is limited by a lack of dyadic and longitudinal studies, interventions targeting emotion regulation hold promise for improving women’s and couples’ sexual well-being.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the members of the Couples and Sexual Health Research Laboratory for their helpful feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Funding

J. P. Dubé was supported by a Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship and is currently supported by a Canadian Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Dr. Rosen is supported by a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Dawson is supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Banting postdoctoral fellowship and an IWK Health Centre postdoctoral fellowship.

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  1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Life Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, P.O. Box 15000, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada

    Justin P. Dubé, Samantha J. Dawson & Natalie O. Rosen

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, IWK Health Centre, 5850/5980 University Avenue, Halifax, NS, B3K 6R8, Canada

    Natalie O. Rosen

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  1. Justin P. Dubé
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Correspondence to Natalie O. Rosen.

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Dubé, J.P., Dawson, S.J. & Rosen, N.O. Emotion Regulation and Sexual Well-being Among Women: Current Status and Future Directions. Curr Sex Health Rep 12, 143–152 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11930-020-00261-9

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