Subscribe
The latest psychology and neuroscience discoveries.
My Account
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Neuroscience
  • About
No Result
View All Result
PsyPost
PsyPost
No Result
View All Result
Home Exclusive Relationships and Sexual Health Consensual Non-Monogamy

What changes when couples open their relationship? Surprisingly little, new research suggests

by Eric W. Dolan
April 16, 2020
in Consensual Non-Monogamy, Relationships and Sexual Health, Social Psychology
(Photo credit: grki)

(Photo credit: grki)

Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
Stay on top of the latest psychology findings: Subscribe now!

A new study tracked people who planned to open up their romantic relationship to include other partners for two months. The findings, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, indicate that engaging in consensual non-monogamy is associated with some increases in sexual satisfaction — but does not have much of an impact on other aspects of one’s relationship.

The idea for the study primarily came from Annelise Murphy, an undergraduate psychology student at Western University. “She wanted to gain some research experience by conducting her own independent project. She was particularly interested in consensual non-monogamy (CNM), and whether the experience of practicing CNM might be better or worse for certain individuals,” explained Samantha Joel, an assistant professor at the University of Western Ontario and co-author of the research.

“My own research interests are on relationship decisions, so this project was the natural merger between her interests and mine,” explained Joel, who is also the head of the Relationships Decision Lab.

“How do people choose to open their relationships up to other partners, and what happens afterward? How do their relationship change? Do the consequences of opening up a relationship depend on a person’s reasons for wanting to do so? We decided to conduct this exploratory study to learn as much as we could about that relationship transition.”

For their study, the researchers recruited 233 individuals currently in a monogamous relationship who had expressed a desire to try swinging, an open relationship or polyamory (but had not done so yet.) The participants completed assessments of relationship quality, life satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and motives for engaging in consensual non-monogamy. Two months later, the participants completed a follow-up survey.

The relationship quality assessment asked the participants to indicate how well their partner met their needs, how much they loved their partner, and how many relationship problems they were experiencing, among other things.

More than half of the participants, 155 individuals, reported that they had in fact opened their relationship over the two month span. The researchers found that participants who opened their relationships tended to experience positive changes in sexual satisfaction, while those who did not tended to experience negative changes in sexual satisfaction over the course of the study.

When it came to relationship quality and life satisfaction, on the other hand, there was no meaningful difference between those who opened their relationships and those who did not.

“On the one hand, there’s an idea out there that turning your monogamous relationship into a non-monogamous one is an effective way to ruin that relationship. On the other hand, consensual non-monogamy is sometimes talked about as though it’s an elixir for relationship problems. The biggest takeaway from the current data is that we found no support for either of these ideas. People who opened up their relationships to other partners were no more or less happy with their relationships after they opened up than they had been at the beginning of the study,” Joel told PsyPost.

“We did find that people who opened up their relationships were subsequently more sexually satisfied, both compared to before they had opened up, and compared to the portion of our sample who thought about opening up but didn’t. This was particularly true for people who had the goal of addressing sexual incompatibilities within their primary relationship. So, although engaging in CNM may not improve people’s relationships per se, our results tentatively suggest that it could help people’s sex lives.”

The findings point to overall trends, but the results may vary for individual couples — especially when one partner wants to open the relationship while the other does not.

“We specifically recruited people who were thinking about opening up their relationships, and so our participants were all at least somewhat enthusiastic about CNM by definition. The current results probably wouldn’t generalize to people who hold negative attitudes about CNM. Another major caveat is that we did not collect partner reports, and so we cannot say how our participants’ partners felt about the experience of opening up their relationships,” Joel explained.

“People self-selected into the ‘open’ group by choosing to engage in CNM. That self-selection limits our causal conclusions: we don’t know why some people in our sample chose to open up while others didn’t, and what other third variables (e.g., other things happening in their lives) might explain the differences between the groups or between the time points.”

In addition to recruiting both couple members, future research should also include more partner-related assessments and examine the long-term impact, the authors of the study advised. “We only followed our participants over a couple of months, and so these data cannot speak to the long-term effects of opening up a relationship to other partners,” Joel noted.

The study, “A Prospective Investigation of the Decision to Open Up a Romantic Relationship“, was authored by Annelise Parkes Murphy, Samantha Joel, and Amy Muise.

TweetSendScanShareSendPin1ShareShareShareShareShare

RELATED

It’s not digital illiteracy: Here’s why older adults are drawn to dubious news
Social Media

Believing “news will find me” is linked to sharing fake news, study finds

June 22, 2025

People who rely on social media to “stumble upon” news are more prone to spreading misinformation, according to a new longitudinal study.

Read moreDetails
Political ambivalence has a surprising relationship with support for violence
Authoritarianism

New study sheds light on the psychological roots of collective violence

June 21, 2025

A new study from Lebanon finds that people with authoritarian beliefs tend to oppose violence against political leaders, while those high in social dominance orientation are more likely to support violence against rival group members.

Read moreDetails
Scientists observe reduced emotional distress in children living near greenery
Racism and Discrimination

Adults’ beliefs about children and race shift when a child’s race is specified, study finds

June 21, 2025

Specifying a child’s race alters how adults perceive their awareness of race and racism, according to new research. Black children are viewed as less “color-evasive” and more racially aware at earlier ages than White children or generic “children.”

Read moreDetails
Study helps untangle the complicated relationship between psychopathy and emotional awareness
Psychopathy

Psychopathic individuals recognize unfairness but are less likely to punish it

June 21, 2025

A new study shows that individuals with higher psychopathic traits are less likely to punish unfair behavior, especially when it costs them personally. The research suggests self-interest, not a lack of moral understanding, drives their reluctance to enforce social norms.

Read moreDetails
The neuroscience of why we cry happy tears
Social Psychology

The neuroscience of why we cry happy tears

June 20, 2025

Why do people cry happy tears? Neuroscience suggests these emotional outbursts occur when the brain becomes overwhelmed by joy, nostalgia, or relief. Far from being irrational, crying during joyful moments helps restore balance and deepen human connection.

Read moreDetails
Epistemic mistrust and dogmatism predict preference for authoritarian-looking leaders
Authoritarianism

Epistemic mistrust and dogmatism predict preference for authoritarian-looking leaders

June 20, 2025

A new study suggests that the way people learn to trust others early in life can shape their political ideology and preference for strong, dominant leaders—though not directly, but through dogmatic thinking and broader political attitudes.

Read moreDetails
Females with ADHD diagnosed 4 years later than males, study reveals
Relationships and Sexual Health

Rare post-orgasm illness causes days-long flu-like symptoms, but research into its cause remains limited

June 20, 2025

Post-orgasmic illness syndrome, a rare condition causing days of fatigue and flu-like symptoms after ejaculation, remains poorly understood. A new review examines the latest research on its causes, mental health effects, and often inconsistent treatment approaches.

Read moreDetails
Psychology researchers find that a simple “talking to strangers” intervention is surprisingly effective
Social Psychology

Simple social rituals like eye contact and small talk are psychologically powerful

June 19, 2025

A social psychology professor highlights how our daily habits—like wearing headphones or avoiding eye contact—can weaken social bonds. Even brief interactions with strangers can boost well-being, but only if we choose to engage rather than withdraw.

Read moreDetails

SUBSCRIBE

Go Ad-Free! Click here to subscribe to PsyPost and support independent science journalism!

STAY CONNECTED

LATEST

Believing “news will find me” is linked to sharing fake news, study finds

A common parasite not only invades the brain — it can also decapitate human sperm

Almost all unmarried pregant women say that the fetus resembles the father, study finds

New neuroscience research reveals brain antioxidant deficit in depression

Scientists uncover kidney-to-brain route for Parkinson’s-related protein spread

Scientists reveal a surprising link between depression and microbes in your mouth

New study sheds light on the psychological roots of collective violence

Experienced FPS gamers show faster, more efficient eye movements during aiming tasks, study finds

         
       
  • Contact us
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and Conditions
[Do not sell my information]

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Cognitive Science Research
  • Mental Health Research
  • Social Psychology Research
  • Drug Research
  • Relationship Research
  • About PsyPost
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy