Caught in a “Bad Romance”? Reconsidering the Negative Association Between Sociosexuality and Relationship Functioning

Abstract

Sociosexuality refers to individual differences in interest and willingness to engage in sexual activity without an emotional connection. Unrestricted sociosexuality is associated with a greater likelihood of infidelity and with poorer relationship quality. However, previous research has failed to examine relationship-specific characteristics that may moderate these findings. Two studies of romantically involved adults examined whether relationship commitment and different relationship agreement types moderate the associations between unrestricted sociosexuality and infidelity. Study 1 (N = 300) showed that individuals in consensual monogamous (CM) relationships with extradyadic sex (EDS) experiences were more sociosexually unrestricted than individuals without such experiences. The positive association between unrestricted sociosexuality and EDS emerged only for less, but not more, committed individuals. Study 2 (N = 270) replicated these results. Furthermore, results showed that individuals in consensual nonmonogamous relationships (CNM) relationships were the most sociosexually unrestricted, but no differences emerged in relationship commitment or satisfaction, when compared to individuals in CM relationships without prior EDS. Individuals in CM relationship with prior EDS were the least committed and satisfied. The negative association between unrestricted sociosexuality and both relationship quality indicators emerged for all individuals in CM relationships, but it was nonsignificant for individuals in CNM relationships. Implications are discussed.

Life History and Multi-Partner Mating: A Novel Explanation for Moral Stigma Against Consensual Non-monogamy

“…That individuals within CNM relationships report a faster life history makes sense in light of previous research on the association between faster life histories and promiscuous mating systems. CNM individuals' preference for multiple sexual and romantic partners has been documented across several samples (Morrison et al, 2013;Rodrigues et al, 2016Rodrigues et al, , 2017Rodrigues et al, , 2019Mogilski et al, 2017Mogilski et al, , 2019Balzarini et al, 2018b) and is replicated again in this study using an alternative measure of sociosexuality (i.e., the MMSO) that separately measures affinity toward short-and long-term partnerships. We found that those in multi-partner relationships reported a more STMO than those in open and monogamous relationships, and open individuals reported a more STMO than monogamous people.…”

“…People may generally assume that individuals within CNM relationships possess faster life history traits, but it is currently unknown whether these perceptions are accurate. People in CNM relationships consistently report a more unrestricted sociosexuality (Morrison et al, 2013;Rodrigues et al, 2016Rodrigues et al, , 2017Rodrigues et al, , 2019Mogilski et al, 2017Mogilski et al, , 2019Balzarini et al, 2018b). However, it is possible that they do not possess other fast life history qualities that interfere with the long-term, cooperative values endorsed by slow life history strategists.…”

“…Individuals within CNM relationships report unique benefits from forming multiple intimate relationships (see Moors et al, 2017), including diversified need fulfillment (Mitchell et al, 2014;Muise et al, 2019), more frequent social opportunities (Moors et al, 2017), and more fluid sexual expression (Manley et al, 2015). These benefits are associated with relatively greater relationship satisfaction (Rubel and Bogaert, 2015;Levine et al, 2018), particularly when an individual's personality is matched to their relationship structure (e.g., when someone with a more unrestricted sociosexuality pursues CNM; Rodrigues et al, 2017Rodrigues et al, , 2019. Therefore, it seems that either monogamy or CNM can improve social relations, romantic satisfaction, and mental health when the option to pursue diverse romantic and sexual strategies allows someone to find and fill their niche.…”

“…Compared to the SOI-R, which has already been used extensively in prior CNM research, this will permit us to not only examine whether CNM individuals are more interested in casual sex than monogamous individuals, but also whether they are relatively less interested in long-term, committed relationships. Although the former has been welldocumented (Morrison et al, 2013;Rodrigues et al, 2016Rodrigues et al, , 2017Rodrigues et al, , 2019Mogilski et al, 2017Mogilski et al, , 2019Balzarini et al, 2018b), the latter has not. A person could theoretically be high or low on either or both measures.…”

Sociosexual Attitudes and Quality of Life in (Non)Monogamous Relationships: The Role of Attraction and Constraining Forces Among Users of the Second Love Web Site

“…Regardless of gender, sociosexually unrestricted individuals are more likely to engage in extradyadic online or face-to-face interactions (e.g., Martins et al, 2016), and extradyadic sex (e.g., Barta & Kiene, 2005;Rodrigues, Lopes, & Smith, 2017), and to indicate less relationship satisfaction (Rodrigues, Lopes, & Pereira, 2016;Webster et al, 2015) and relationship commitment (Foster, Shrira, & Campbell, 2006;Rodrigues, Lopes, & Pereira, 2017). Moreover, those with past experience of extradyadic sex are also more likely to repeat such behavior in future relationships (Knopp et al, 2017).…”