Premium
Reassuring sex: Can sexual desire and intimacy reduce relationship‐specific attachment insecurities?
Author(s) -
Mizrahi Moran,
Hirschberger Gilad,
Mikulincer Mario,
Szepsenwol Ohad,
Birnbaum Gurit E.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2184
Subject(s) - psychology , romance , developmental psychology , sexual relationship , longitudinal study , attachment theory , sexual desire , anxiety , insecure attachment , sexual behavior , social psychology , human sexuality , gender studies , statistics , mathematics , psychiatry , sociology , psychoanalysis
Past research has shown that attachment orientations shape sexual processes within relationships. Yet, little has been done to explore the opposite direction. In the present research, we examined whether sexual desire and emotional intimacy reduce attachment insecurities over time in emerging relationships. In an 8‐month longitudinal study, we followed 62 newly dating couples across three measurement waves. At Time 1, romantic partners discussed sexual aspects of their relationship and judges coded their displays of sexual desire and intimacy. Participants also completed measures of relationship‐specific attachment anxiety and avoidance in each wave. The results indicated that men's displays of desire predicted a decline in their own and their partner's relationship‐specific insecurities. Conversely, women's displays of desire inhibited the decline in their partner's relationship‐specific insecurities, whereas women's displays of intimacy predicted a decline in their partner's relationship‐specific insecurities. These findings suggest that different sex‐related processes underlie attachment formation in men and women.