Single adults who engage in casual sex report higher sexual satisfaction and a stronger sense of their own desirability compared to those who are sexually inactive. Findings challenge earlier assumptions that casual sexual encounters are linked to negative psychological outcomes for single people.
One specific form of insecurity is significantly lower among singles who have casual sex
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Edit to suit r/science rules.
“*adults who have sex report higher sexual satisfaction*” makes sense. The assumption of negative psychological outcome of casual sex can not diretly be extrapolated from the subjective feeling of ‘sexual satisfaction’. You can be sexually satisfied while emotionally craving and or lacking connection.
So, people who have sex – have sex. And people who don’t – don’t. Cool study
So, to summarize:
Married sex > romantic partner sex > casual sex > no sex
I mean i pretty much already knew that, but it’s always good to validate the hypothesis.
I’m guessing the next finding will be that people who are alive consume more oxygen than people who aren’t.
I mean… it should be obvious that people who have lots of sex have higher sexual satisfaction.
Who thought that sexually inactive people would have stronger sense of their desirability or higher sexual satisfaction.
I think there’s probably a chicken/egg situation with depression and casual sex for a lot of people. I know for me personally, the times in my life where I was the most promiscuous were also the times I was the most depressed, but it was almost certainly the depression that led to the promiscuity, rather than the other way around. I was miserable, and so I sought validation through sex because it made me feel better about myself. But it’s short lived, like most external methods for improving mood.
Those were always puritanical nonsense beliefs.
I wonder if there is any way to account for cultural attitudes towards casual sex. Like does this conclusion hold up in an environment where casual sex is extremely frowned upon?
I am single, and I get a lot of attention from people and I have no problem finding people who want to hook up with me.
I don’t have an issue with my desirability, and I’m currently celibate.
I don’t want to have casual hookups, as in find usual them make me feel worse after.
Next up: people eating regularly report lower hunger levels than those who don’t.
Could it be the other way around? Adults who have a stronger (lower) sense of their own desirability are more (less) likely to be willing to look for and engage in casual sex?
comparing to sexually inactive is not fair, many of these people have depression, body image issues or other mental problems, only the lucky ones are asexual. Causal sex still remains the lowest lifeform of sex (i havent included rapesex)
I’ll take your word for it.
The only comparison is between sexually active single people and sexually inactive single people—there is no comparison to people in relationships. So, I fail to see how this really challenges any assumptions—I don’t think any person would assume that the average celibate single would have higher sexual satisfaction or desirability than the average sexually active single. And I think an additional argument could be made that neither of those two psychological outcomes are the ones that should be examined anyway—perceived desirability is not the same thing as self esteem.
Ok seriously some research is just stupid.
eh, obviously. people who aren’t having casual sex are probably riddled with anxiety and terrified of intimate encounters to begin with.
but let’s not sugar coat it, it’s a preference. casual sex comes with high risks many people aren’t willing to take.
‘isn’t all sex casual?’ ‘they mean promiscuous’ iykyk
People who want and have a lot of sex think they are sexier….
Ok.
This isn’t really surprising.
This study is part of a trend in relationship science that tries to destigmatize singlehood and casual sex. That’s fine, but it’s important not to overinterpret.
The key question is whether casual sex affects long term relational functioning and psychological health.
This study can’t speak to that because it’s cross-sectional, self report, and compares casual-sex singles to involuntary celibates rather than to people in committed relationships or to value driven celibates (a relevant missing group).
The study tells you “it feels good,” not “it has no cost.”
Overall it’s unreliable
TLDR sex is good, go have some of it.
**COMPARED TO THOSE WHO ARE SEXUALLY INACTIVE**
How about when compared to those that are in monogamous relationships?
pretty people have more sex than ugly people
Tell this to the body count police! Oh wait…they already know and are just insecure.
Pretty sure many of those, that don’t engage in casual sex are not attractive enough to do so and hence can pretty much assume their desirability level too. It’s low. No real science here IMO.
I’m not sure what result they were expecting. I know it says something about challenging assumptions about celibate people but then who the hell thought that in the first place?
People who actually have sex have higher sexual satisfaction than those who don’t? Wow!
People who find people who want to have sex with them have a higher sense of their own desirability than those who can’t? Double wow!
Hungry people are less hungry upon eating. This is truly groundbreaking stuff. I should have gone in to research.