Relationships and Sexual Health

Women with histories of sexual trauma report more frequent Duty Sex, lower sexual satisfaction, and higher sexual pain. These patterns persisted even after accounting for sexual dysfunction.

A study found no significant difference in relationship quality between couples who met online or in person, suggesting that dating apps are as effective as traditional methods for forming meaningful, satisfying romantic relationships.

New research challenges long-standing assumptions about gender differences in predicting relationship breakups.

Pornography use among university students is associated with the development and reinforcement of risky sexual scripts over time.

A recent paper explores emophilia, the tendency to fall in love quickly and frequently, highlighting its distinct psychological traits, impacts on relationships, and risks like impulsivity and infidelity, while advocating for its recognition in mainstream relationship research.

Recent research found that people accurately assess their own attractiveness, romantic partners tend to match in physical attractiveness, and longer relationships strengthen this alignment, highlighting the role of assortative mating in romantic pairings.

A recent study found that ghosting and stress are linked to maladaptive daydreaming and vulnerable narcissism, with mindfulness reducing, and rumination amplifying, these effects.

Does marriage help people age better? A recent study followed over 7,000 older Canadians to find out, and the results were surprising. While marriage was linked to successful aging for men, the same didn’t hold true for women.

Both men and women tend to spend more on gifts for committed partners than for affair partners, countering the stereotype that men lavish more on extramarital relationships. Gift-giving primarily reinforces long-term relationships.

A large-scale cross-cultural study published in Evolutionary Psychological Science found that people in relationships, particularly satisfying ones, report higher emotional wellbeing and life satisfaction compared to singles.

Men in the Red Pill community exhibit Dark Triad traits—narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism—using manipulation, self-interest, and emotional control in relationships, often prioritizing their own needs over emotional connection with their partners.

A study found that spouses’ well-being is interdependent, influenced both by direct effects from each other and by shared environmental factors, with this pattern holding across American and Japanese couples.

Heavy cannabis users report lower next-day relationship satisfaction when combining cannabis and alcohol. But light cannabis users show no significant change in satisfaction from their own or their partner’s substance use.

Marital partners tend to have similar vocabulary sizes. This similarity is unlikely due to accommodation, implying vocabulary knowledge could be a factor in initial attraction.

Highly religious individuals are more likely to view their pornography use as compulsive, influenced by moral disapproval rather than actual behavioral issues, especially among frequent worship attendees.