Elsevier

Sexologies

Volume 20, Issue 4, October–December 2011, Pages 207-211
Sexologies

Research
Gender differences in sexual desire: How do emotional and relationship factors determine sexual desire according to gender?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sexol.2011.08.010Get rights and content

Summary

The aim of the present study was to evaluate how emotional, and relationship factors affect sexual desire in each gender, helping to justify gender differences in sexual desire. Two hundred and five men and 237 women answered a set of questionnaires assessing psychopathology, emotions during sexual activity, dyadic adjustment, and frequency of sexual desire. MANCOVAS (demographic variables as covariates) were conducted in order to assess differences between genders and groups of sexual desire (low/high desire). Findings indicated that women presented higher levels of psychopathology and significantly more emotions of hurt during sexual activity, whereas men presented more fear and shame in the same context. Moreover, psychopathology interfered in male and female sexual desire very similarly. However, emotions interfered in female and male sexual desire through different paths. Regarding dyadic adjustment, findings indicated that participants with high desire had significantly more dyadic consensus, cohesion, satisfaction, and affection. These findings were independent of gender, suggesting that men and women evaluate their relationship dynamics similarly. Findings suggest that therapeutic protocols for sexual desire difficulties should attend to dyadic adjustment and emotions during sexual activity, also considering how psychopathology and specific emotions act differently on sexual desire according to gender.

Section snippets

Participants

A total of 205 men and 237 women from the Portuguese population participated in the study (Table 1 for demographics). Participants were also divided according to high desire and low desire group. Groups were stipulated according to the participants’ response about sexual desire frequency (International index of erectile function [IIEF]; Rosen et al., 1997; female sexual function index [FSFI]; Rosen et al., 2000). Answers inferior to 3 (“few times”; “never”) were considered as low sexual desire

Sexual desire and gender

To evaluate the effect of gender on sexual desire (participants without a partner were excluded), we conducted an ANCOVA (demographic dimensions as covariates). Analyses indicated a statistical significant main effect for gender [F (1,398) = 88.353, P < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.18]. Post-hoc comparisons showed that men (M = 4.53, SD = 0.07) presented significantly higher levels of sexual desire than women (M = 3.62, SD = 0.07).

Psychopathology

To assess the effect of gender (men/women), group (high/low desire) and gender × group

Discussion

This study assessed the role of psychopathology, emotions during sexual activity, and dyadic adjustment, as a function of gender and sexual desire.

Regarding psychopathology, we found a significant main effect for gender. Women reported higher levels of overall psychopathology, with the exception of psychoticism. Since these emotional problems are often related to deficient sexual desire (Segraves, 2002), excepting for psychoticism (Carvalho and Nobre, 2010), the presence of higher levels of

Disclosure of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest concerning this article.

References (18)

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Également en version française dans ce numéro : Carvalho J, Nobre P. Différences de genre et désir sexuel. Comment les facteurs émotionnels et relationnels déterminent-ils le désir sexuel selon le genre ?

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