Poster #193 - Sexual motives vary by adolescents’ romantic relationship status and commitment

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Sex, Gender

Integrative Statement

Research on normative sexuality development is beginning to consider the complex associations between romantic relationships and sexual behavior during adolescence (Bailey et al., 2011; Grello et al., 2006; Wesche et al., 2017). Romantic relationships may shape not only behaviors, but also motivations for sexual behavior. Theories of motivation suggest that individuals can be motivated for self- or other-focused reasons, and have either approach or avoidance motives (Cooper at el., 1998; Ryan & Deci, 2000). We used longitudinal data to consider how romantic relationship status and attributes are associated with a range of sexual motives, considering both within-person and between-person effects.

Methods. For seven consecutive semesters, university students completed online surveys, resulting in 4400 observations from the 689 adolescents who completed at least three semesters of data. At Semester 1, the sample was 51% female, 98% heterosexual, 21% African American, 29% Asian American, 45% European American, 25% Hispanic/Latino, and ages 16.9 – 20.8 years. Students answered questions about their romantic relationship status (coded as 0=not dating anyone right now, 1=casual dating, serious relationship, living with partner, engaged, married), years in current relationship, relationship commitment (7 items, Rusbult et al., 1998), and six types of sexual motives (4-5 items each, Cooper et al., 1998).

Results and Discussion. We performed six multilevel models (one per motive) with within and between person effects for relationship status, controlling for gender, race/ethnicity, and penetrative sex in the past 12 weeks. At the within-person level, students were more motivated to have sex for intimacy and less motivated by self-affirmation, coping, and peer approval when they were in a relationship, compared to times they were single (see Table 1). At the between-person level, students who were in a relationship for more semesters were less motivated by physical satisfaction and self-affirmation than students who spent fewer semesters in relationships.

We also performed six multilevel models with the sub-sample of 1835 occasions when students were in relationships (n=512), entering within- and between-person effects for relationship length and commitment, and the same controls. At the within-person level, students were more motivated by intimacy and physical satisfaction during semesters when they were more committed to their relationships (see Table 2). At the between-person level, students who were more committed were less motivated by physical satisfaction, self-affirmation, coping, peer approval, and partner approval than their peers who were less committed. Relationship length was not associated with sexual motives.

These results demonstrate that on average, late adolescents who are more prone to be in relationships and in more committed relationships tend to be less motivated to have sex to improve their feelings about themselves or to escape negative aspects of their lives. More importantly, it is not simply that different types of adolescents have differing motives. During semesters when late adolescents were in relationships or more committed relationships, they tended to be more motivated to have sex to improve intimacy, and less motivated for self-focused or avoidance reasons. Thus, adolescents’ romantic relationships shape not only their sexual behaviors, but also their reasons for sex.

Authors

• Eva S Lefkowitz, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Rose Wesche, Medical College of Wisconsin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mackenzie Wink, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Samantha Lawrence, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author