A recent study indicated that individuals with more pronounced compulsive sexual behaviors tend to have more difficulty controlling their emotions when upset and more difficulty with clarity of their emotions. These individuals also tend to accept their emotions less and exhibit more pronounced anxiety and avoidance attachment traits. The paper was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Compulsive sexual behavior, often referred to as sexual addiction, is characterized by persistent and repetitive sexual thoughts or actions that are difficult to control, causing significant distress or impairment in personal, social, or occupational functioning. This behavior typically involves a preoccupation with sexual thoughts, urges, or behaviors that may lead to negative consequences, such as relationship problems, financial issues, or neglect of other responsibilities. Unlike healthy sexual expression, compulsive sexual behavior is often driven by a need to escape from emotional discomfort or stress, rather than a desire for sexual intimacy or pleasure.
Compulsive sexual behavior is considered a disorder when these behaviors become all-consuming and substantially interfere with daily life. The World Health Organization now recognizes this as a distinct disorder called compulsive sexual behavior disorder. This pattern of behavior is also known as hypersexual disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5).
Compulsive sexual behavior is often linked to negative emotions. Individuals with this behavior are more likely to engage in sexual activity in response to changes in their emotional states, especially negative ones. Researchers suggest this might be an effort to cope with, distract from, or avoid negative moods such as depression, anxiety, and boredom. Thus, the connection between mood and compulsive sexual behaviors may relate to how these individuals regulate their emotions.
Study author Ryan L. Rahm-Knigge and his colleagues wanted to explore the relationships between compulsive sexual behavior, difficulties with emotion regulation, and emotional attachment traits of anxiety and avoidance. They hypothesized that emotional attachment patterns of individuals with more pronounced compulsive sexual behaviors will be more avoidant and anxious. Their second expectation was that individuals with more compulsive sexual behaviors will tend to have specific difficulties in regulating emotions.
The study included 915 U.S. MTurk workers, each compensated $5 for completing the survey. The participants’ average age was 39, ranging from 18 to 72 years, with 45% being female.
The participants underwent assessments of compulsive sexual behavior (the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory–13), religiosity (3 items, e.g., “I consider myself religious”), emotional attachment styles (the Attachment Style Questionnaire), and difficulties with emotion regulation (the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale).
Results showed that individuals identifying as Hispanic or Latino scored lower on the assessment of compulsive sexual behavior compared to others. Non-heterosexual individuals and those who were more religious appeared more prone to compulsive sexual behaviors.
Compulsive sexual behaviors were positively associated with all aspects of difficulties in regulating emotions. However, the strongest links were with nonacceptance of emotions, impulse, strategies, and clarity. In other words, individuals with more pronounced compulsive sexual behaviors were more likely to not accept their emotional reactions, have negative reactions to emotions, struggle with controlling behavior during negative emotions, lack strategies for emotion regulation or believe that one’s emotions are unmanageable, and have difficulty understanding or being clear about their feelings.
Individuals with more pronounced compulsive sexual behaviors also tended to have more pronounced anxious and avoidant attachment traits.
“Findings indicate that these emotion regulation features may explain a substantive proportion of self-reported concerns with CSB [compulsive sexual behaviors]. Intervention and future research on CSB, including relationships between CSB and other mental and sexual health disorders, should consider the potential significant role of intrapersonal and interpersonal vulnerabilities with emotion regulation,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the links between compulsive sexual behavior and regulation. However, the study was conducted on a U.S. MTurk sample, a participant recruitment method widely reported by researchers to often include non-genuine participants (or bots). The study authors themselves reported encountering this issue and dealing with it.
The paper, “Identifying Relationships Between Difficulties with Emotion Regulation and Compulsive Sexual Behavior”, was authored by Ryan L. Rahm-Knigge, Neil Gleason, Kristen Mark, and Eli Coleman.