Examining the association between gratitude and sexual communal strength

Maintaining sexual satisfaction is a critical, yet challenging, aspect of most romantic relationships. Sexual communal strength (SCS)—i.e., the extent to which people are motivated to be non-contingently responsive to their partners’ sexual needs—accounts for why some couples are able to maintain sexual and relationship satisfaction despite such challenges. However, research has yet to identify what factors promote SCS. Given that feeling and expressing gratitude function to motivate intimates to maintain valuable relationships, expressing gratitude should increase intimates’ motivation to meet their partners’ sexual needs. Further, given that receiving expressions of gratitude should increase liking, and people are motivated to maintain relationships with others they like, receiving gratitude should similarly increase intimates’ motivation to meet their partners’ sexual needs. Two studies of romantic partners demonstrated that both expressing and receiving gratitude is associated with SCS. A third experiment of couples failed to successfully manipulate gratitude and thus was unable to test the causal association between gratitude and SCS. Results from Studies 1-2 further understanding about what qualities or behaviors promote SCS. Future research would benefit by developing a more successful manipulation of gratitude to better understand the causal association between gratitude and SCS

Navigating sexual challenges across relationship development

A satisfying sexual relationship is critical for maintaining individual and relationship well-being, yet is difficult to maintain over time. Indeed, many people will inevitably face sexual challenges over the course of a relationship that threaten the well-being and stability of the relationship. However, some people are more successful at navigating these sexual challenges to maintain well-being over time, suggesting that it is possible to maintain a satisfying sexual relationship despite common obstacles that people face. To this end, this dissertation discussed three types of sexual challenges—sexual incompatibility, avoiding infidelity, and mate selection—that people are especially likely to encounter over the course of a romantic relationship, and how those sexual challenges inform individual and relational outcomes. Further, this dissertation introduced my program of research, which seeks to identify how people can successfully navigate these sexual challenges to maintain satisfying sexual relationships over time. Ultimately, these findings contribute to literature on how people can maintain sexual and relationship satisfaction over time, and thus promote individual and relational well-being

Playing the field or locking down a partner?: Perceptions of available romantic partners and commitment readiness

People often consider how ready they feel for a committed romantic relationship before initiating one. Although research has only begun to identify the antecedents of commitment readiness, several theoretical perspectives suggest that it should be shaped by the perceived frequency of available partners. We conducted five studies (one correlational, four experimental) that tested this idea among single people. A Pilot Study assessed participants' perceptions of available romantic partners and their commitment readiness. In the subsequent four experiments, participants read articles (Studies 1a and 1b) or created dating profiles and were presented with false feedback (Studies 2 and 3) that influenced perceptions of available partners and reported their commitment readiness. Results suggested that people were less ready to commit to a romantic relationship to the extent that they perceived they had many partners available to them. These results further understanding of factors that promote the decision to initiate a committed relationship