Monogamy has long been a hallmark of American social norms and viewed as the pinnacle of relationships. However, over the past decade in particular, attention has been gathering on alternative forms of romantic and sexual relationships. Television entertainment featuring polygamy and wife-swapping and celebrities revealing their alternative domestic arrangements in high-profile media stories have piqued… Read more »
By Justin Lehmiller Women naturally experience a number of hormonal fluctuations over the course of the menstrual cycle, and we’ve long known that these fluctuations are linked to changes in women’s psychology and behavior. However, very little research has explored the implications of these hormonal shfits in long-term relationships. So what is the impact of the… Read more »
By Justin Lehmiller People don’t always use condoms consistently, and there are a large number of reasons for this. However, one that has increasingly been of interest to sex scientists is something termed condom use resistance. This occurs when the partners don’t agree on whether condoms should be used and the one who doesn’t want… Read more »
By Justin Lehmiller What makes for a satisfying marriage? Previous studies have found that couples who have sex more often tend to be happier. In other words, how we feel about our relationships would seem to depend, at least in part, on how much sex we’re having. However, those studies didn’t necessarily take both… Read more »
By Justin Lehmiller One sign of a healthy long-term romantic relationship is frequent sexual communication. Studies have consistently found that the more sexual communication couples engage in, the more sexually satisfied they tend to be [1]. Despite the well-documented and powerful role that sexual communication plays in our relationships, surprisingly little research has explored in detail… Read more »