Abstract
One longitudinal study of married couples and one experiment tested the hypothesis that the experience of sexual desire for an alternative sexual partner might heighten feelings of desire for one’s long-term romantic partner, and conversely, sexual desire for one’s long-term partner might heighten desire for alternative partners. A daily-diary study of newlywed couples revealed that (a) on days people reported heightened interest in alternative partners, they also reported increased desire to have sex with their partner and (b) on days people reported heightened desire to have sex with their partner, they also reported increased interest in alternative partners. An experimental study of partnered individuals revealed that people primed with sexual desire for an alternative partner reported increased sexual desire for their romantic partner (relative to a control condition). People primed with sexual desire for their romantic partner, however, did not report increased sexual desire for alternatives. Taken together, these findings support evolutionary perspectives on the function of sexual desire. Findings are consistent with the broader hypothesis that sexual desire is not partner-specific.
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The analysis code, codebook, and data for all analyses are available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/ngc5b/?view_only=70190c49999f4871bdd7bb6a997a3380).
Notes
The measure of interest in alternatives asked about people of the opposite-sex, precluding us from examining these associations among participants involved in same-sex relationships.
In Study 2, STMO and LTMO were assessed using 7-point scales instead of 9-point scales.
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These studies were performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in these studies. Studies 1 and 2 were both approved by the Institutional Review Board at Florida State University (Study 1: 12/19/2019, approval #00000676; Study 2: 01/30/2024, approval #00004833).
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Peters, S.D., Maner, J.K. & Meltzer, A.L. Sexual Desire is not Partner-Specific. Hum Nat (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-024-09478-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-024-09478-2