1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«Following the propositions of the self-medication and intimacy disorder models, this study examined the directionality of associations between partners’ emotion dysregulation, physical (i.e., partnered sexual frequency) and relationship intimacy, and hypersexuality considering actor and partner effects, using dyadic longitudinal data involving two measurement points.» (p. 2141)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«We hypothesized that prior higher levels of emotion dysregulation and lower levels of intimacy (i.e., relationship intimacy and partnered sexual activities) would be positively related to later higher levels of hypersexuality in both partners. We also hypothesized that partners’ relationship intimacy would be negatively related to their partner’s hypersexuality over time.» (p. 2141)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«A total of 267 committed adult mixed-sex couples […] participated in the study. At Time 1 (baseline), couples were together for an average of 5.4 years […] 25.5% (n = 68) of couples were not living together, 56.1% (n = 150) were cohabiting, and 18.4% (n = 49) were married.» (p. 2141)

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

First, «[s]ignificant, moderate-to-strong differences were observed between men and women’s hypersexuality scores, with men reporting higher levels of hypersexuality at both Time 1 and Time 2. Women reported significantly higher emotion dysregulation scores than men at Time 1 with a small effect size, but this difference was not significant at Time 2.» (p. 2143) Also, «[r]esults showed that both men and women who experienced higher levels of emotion dysregulation engaged in greater hypersexual behaviors over time, supporting the self-medication model. Contrary to the relational conceptualization of hypersexuality, intimacy problems did not predict hypersexuality over time. Yet, women’s hypersexuality predicted their own lower relationship intimacy over time. No partner effects were found. Taken together, findings indicated that emotion dysregulation—but not intimacy problems— may be considered as an important predictor of hypersexuality among men and women in romantic relationships.» (p. 2145-2146)