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A recent study exploring how adults in relationships navigate the balance between solitary masturbation and partnered intimacy has identified three distinct behavioral profiles. The findings suggest that a person’s motives, their attitudes toward solo sex, and the subjective pleasure they experience all dictate how these two forms of intimacy coexist. The research was published in the International Journal of Sexual Health.
Historically, solitary sexual behavior has been treated as a secondary metric in relationship science. Many people assume that a high rate of masturbation within a relationship indicates underlying romantic troubles. Researchers categorize this idea as the compensatory model of sexuality. This model assumes that solo acts function primarily to replace infrequent or unsatisfactory shared intimacy.
Another framework exists to explain these choices. The complementary model proposes that solo acts serve to enhance an individual’s overall sexual health alongside their relationship intimacy. In this framework, masturbation operates as an independent source of pleasure rather than a reaction to a failing relationship.
To understand these dynamics on a structural level, researchers often evaluate the sexual pleasure cycle. This biological model breaks human sexual response into two main psychological components. The first component is the motivation or inner desire to seek out stimulation. The second is the rewarding sensation experienced at the peak of climax.
Together, these psychological dimensions help explain why individuals maintain specific intimacy routines. Assessing these dimensions requires looking beyond simple behavioral tallies to measure actual personal satisfaction. Lead author Oscar Cervilla, a researcher at the University of Jaen, collaborated with colleagues at the University of Granada to measure these variables.
The researchers launched an online survey from December 2022 to March 2023. They collected responses from 1,028 Spanish adults, including 475 men and 553 women ranging from 18 to 75 years old. Every participant identified as cisgender and exclusively pursued different-gender relationships. Participants were all currently involved in romantic relationships.
The survey asked participants to detail how often they engaged in both shared intimacy and solo sex. They also completed questionnaires designed to measure their levels of solitary sexual desire, which is the internal motivation to stimulate oneself alone. Other questions assessed their emotional reactions to climax and any negative attitudes they held regarding masturbation.
Based on the survey results, the team used statistical modeling to group the participants into three specific profiles. The first group contained individuals who reported high frequencies of both shared intimacy and solo sex. The second group consisted of people who rarely engaged in shared intimacy but reported high rates of solo sex. The final group featured people with active partnered intimacy but low rates of solo activity.
Participants in the first category fit smoothly into the complementary model of sexuality. These individuals scored low on negative attitudes toward masturbation. Both men and women in this group reported that sheer physical pleasure motivated their solo habits.
Because they reported a high frequency of shared intimacy, their solo activities were not driven by a lack of access to a partner. These individuals also recorded the highest levels of emotional satisfaction and physical reward during solo climaxes. The intense positive feedback they received from climax likely encourages them to maintain frequent solo habits.
The researchers noted a few demographic trends within this first group. Many of these participants did not live with their romantic partners. Having completely separate living situations might provide the necessary privacy to explore solo habits without facing potential partner judgment. Additionally, the women in this profile generally started exploring masturbation at an earlier age compared to other participants.
The second group displayed habits that aligned closely with the compensatory model. For these participants, high rates of solo sex were directly tied to relationship deficits. Both men and women in this category frequently cited a lack of shared intimacy or feelings of dissatisfaction with their partner as their primary motivation for masturbating.
The data revealed specific gender nuances within this compensatory profile. Men in this category reported using pornography largely as a tool for emotional avoidance. This hints that men might rely on solo acts to distance themselves from relational distress. The men in this group also reported experiencing their first sexual relationships at older ages than the majority of the sample.
Women in this second profile tended to be older and involved in longer relationships. Because relationship duration is often associated with a natural decline in shared intimacy, older women might transition their focus toward solo activities. This shift allows them to fulfill their sexual desires independently when relationship dynamics heavily change.
The third profile broke away from both trends by featuring high shared intimacy and very low solo activity. These individuals reported the lowest levels of solitary sexual desire. Without an internal motivation to stimulate themselves, their sexual needs appear to be entirely fulfilled through shared activities with their partners.
The people in this third group also harbored the most negative attitudes toward masturbation among the entire sample. The men in this group tended to be older, perhaps focusing entirely on shared intimacy because it offers a more rewarding relational context. Meanwhile, the women in this category reported discovering masturbation at a much later age than the rest of the women surveyed.
The findings regarding educational background were not statistically significant across the sample. Education did not seem to dictate how often participants engaged in either solo or shared intimacy. Age and personal attitudes played a much larger role in shaping everyday routines.
The study relies entirely on cross-sectional data, meaning the researchers captured these trends at a single point in time. Because the responses act as a momentary snapshot, the results cannot prove that relationship dissatisfaction actively causes changes in solo habits. The reliance on online recruitment also introduces sampling biases, as people willing to take online surveys about sexual health might hold more progressive views than the general public.
Expanding this research to include diverse sexual orientations and gender identities could provide a more rounded view of human sexuality. Future studies might track couples over several years to observe exactly how these behavioral profiles evolve. Life events such as the birth of a child or an accumulation of relationship stress could easily shift an individual from one profile to another. Exploring these contextual shifts could eventually help therapists offer better guidance to people navigating intimacy struggles.
The study, “Mapping Partnered Sex and Solitary Masturbation: A Cluster Analysis,” was authored by Oscar Cervilla, Carmen Gómez-Berrocal, and Juan Carlos Sierra.