Men’s Benefit-Provisioning Mate Retention Behavior Mediates the Relationship Between Their Agreeableness and Their Oral Sex Behaviors

Abstract

Men perform oral sex on their romantic partner as part of a broader benefit-provisioning mate retention strategy and men higher in Agreeableness are especially likely to provision their partner with benefits. The current research explored whether men's benefit-provisioning mate retention behavior mediated the relationship between their Agreeableness and their oral sex behaviors in their long-term romantic relationship. Men (n = 346) in a committed, sexual, heterosexual relationship completed the Mate Retention Inventory-a 104-item instrument that assesses the frequency with which they performed various mate retention behaviors during the past month, a 40-item personality inventory, and reported on a questionnaire their interest in and the time they spent performing oral sex on their romantic partner during their most recent sexual encounter with her. The results indicated that men higher in Agreeableness reported greater interest in and spent more time performing oral sex on their partner, and that their benefit-provisioning mate retention behaviors partially mediated these relationships. The current research is the first to investigate the relationship between personality dimensions and oral sex behaviors and adds to a growing body of research documenting that mate retention strategies influence sexual behavior.

Women’s mate retention behaviors, personality traits, and fellatio

“…Women higher in Agreeableness report greater interest in, and time spent, performing fellatio on their partner, but not more Benefit-Provisioning. This is in contrast to the mediated relationship that Pham et al (2014) documented in men, and is consistent with the sex differences in the relationship between oral sex and mate retention documented by Sela et al (2015) using a different subsample of this larger dataset. This finding is also consistent with the sex differences in the relationship between oral sex and risk of partner infidelity; men, but not women, are more likely to be interested in, and spend more time performing, oral sex when they are at greater risk of their partner's infidelity (Pham, Shackelford, & Sela, 2013).…”

“…Panels A and B summarize models 1 and 2, respectively. ⁄ p < 0.05, ⁄⁄ p < 0.01, ⁄⁄⁄ p < 0.001. current research extends previous research on men (Pham et al, 2014) to women. Therefore, we followed the methods and procedures of this previous research.…”

“…Despite the ubiquity of oral sex, only one study has investigated the links between personality and oral sex. Pham et al (2014) documented that men's interest in, and time spent, performing oral sex on their female partner (i.e., cunnilingus) is positively related to men's Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. No research has investigated the links between women's personality and women's oral sex behaviors.…”

“…No research has investigated the links between women's personality and women's oral sex behaviors. The current study aims to replicate and extend Pham et al (2014) to a female sample. Women more often perform oral sex on their male partner (i.e., fellatio) in a long-term relationship than in a casual, sexual encounter (e.g., Armstrong, England, & Fogarty, 2009;Fielder & Carey, 2010), so the current research focuses on long-term relationships.…”

Mate Value Discrepancy and Mate Retention Behaviors of Self and Partner

“…Men's mate retention behaviors vary in evolutionarily predicted ways with men's perceptions of the risk of their partner's infidelity (Starratt, Shackelford, Goetz, & McKibbin, ), the phase of their partner's ovulatory cycle (e.g., Gangestad, Thornhill, & Garver, ), their partner's use of hormonal contraceptives (Welling, Puts, Roberts, Little, & Burriss, ), and men's self‐esteem (Holden et al, ). Mate retention also vary as a function of both men's and women's self‐evaluations and partner evaluations of mate value (Miner et al, ; Starratt & Shackelford, ), partner‐directed oral sex behavior (Pham & Shackelford, ; Sela, Shackelford, Pham, & Euler, ), sociosexuality (Kardum et al, ), and personality traits (e.g., Holden, Zeigler‐Hill, Pham, & Shackelford, 2014; Pham, Shackelford, Holden, Zeigler‐Hill, Sela, & Jeffrey, ).…”