Abstract :
Keywords Dyadic sexual desire; Testosterone; Sex differences; Marriage Highlights * Husbands reported higher levels of sexual desire for their spouse than did wives. * Testosterone accounted for the sex difference in sexual desire for one's spouse. * Relational, cognitive, and emotional variables did not account for this sex difference. Abstract One challenge many marital couples face is that they experience discrepant levels of sexual desire for one another. Such discrepancies are particularly likely to arise in mixed-sex relationships because, at least in long-term relationships, men tend to have higher levels of sexual desire for their partner than do women. But what underlies this sex difference? We used a dyadic study of 100 mixed-sex community-based newlywed spouses to investigate the role of biological, relational, cognitive, and emotional factors in explaining sex differences in dyadic sexual desire for a long-term partner. Consistent with predictions, wives on average reported lower daily sexual desire for their spouse than did husbands. Moreover, individual differences in men's and women's levels of circulating testosterone explained this sex difference whereas relational (marital satisfaction, commitment), cognitive (sex-role identification, stress, self-esteem), and emotional (mood, depressive symptoms) factors did not. These findings advance our knowledge of factors that influence dyadic sexual desire and may have practical implications for treating relationship distress in mixed-sex marriages. Author Affiliation: (a) Oklahoma Center for Evolutionary Analysis, Oklahoma State University, 116 Psychology Building, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA (b) Florida State University, 1107 W. Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA (c) University of Arkansas, 216 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 5 July 2022; Revised 19 August 2022; Accepted 19 August 2022 Byline: Juliana E. French [juliana.french@okstate.edu] (a,*), James K. McNulty (b), Anastasia Makhanova (c), Jon K. Maner (b), Lisa A. Eckel (b), Larissa Nikonova (b), Andrea L. Meltzer (b)