Erectile Dysfunction, Suspicious Jealousy, and Partner-Directed Behaviors in Heterosexual Romantic Couples.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) can have negative consequences for men and their intimate partners. The purpose of the present research was to replicate and extend the results of previous studies concerning the connections that ED has with partner-directed behaviors using a sample of heterosexual romantic couples. Specifically, we used an actor-partner interdependence mediation model to examine whether the associations that ED had with men's mate retention behaviors, partner-directed insults, partner-directed violence, and partner-inflicted injuries were mediated by suspicious jealousy, but not reactive jealousy. These associations were examined in 113 romantic couples, using men's self-reports, and partner-reports provided by their female partners. Results indicated that suspicious jealousy (but not reactive jealousy) mediated the associations that ED had with men's use of partner-directed behaviors, such that higher levels of ED were associated with men experiencing more suspicious jealousy, which, in turn, was associated with more cost-inflicting mate retention behaviors, benefit-provisioning mate retention behaviors, partner-directed insults, partner-directed violence, and partner-inflicted injury. However, there were some discrepancies between the reports provided by men and women such that these associations emerged more consistently in the partner-reports provided by women than in the self-reports provided by men. Discussion addresses evolutionary implications of these findings, as well as limitations of this research and directions for research concerning ED.

Men's Psychopathy and Mating Effort in Intimate Relationships: Links with Jealousy and Sexual Coercion.

Psychopathic men sometimes direct sexual aggression toward prospective female partners (e.g., using sexually aggressive behavior on a first date) and such behavior may be indicative of a high mating effort strategy. Less research has investigated the role of psychopathy in men's use of sexually coercive behaviors in their intimate relationships (e.g., sexual aggression directed toward one's long-term romantic partner) or the relationship processes that might facilitate such behavior. The present study surveyed 143 heterosexual dyads to assess men's psychopathic traits and their relation to self-reports and partner-reports of men's jealousy and partner sexual coercion. Results across informant models showed that men's psychopathy was associated with higher suspicious jealousy and partner sexual coercion. Suspicious jealousy also indirectly linked men's psychopathic traits with engaging in partner sexual coercion. The findings provide novel insights using dyadic data and suggest that both psychopathy and jealousy are important for men's engagement in partner sexual coercion.

Sperm Competition Risk: The Connections That Partner Attractiveness and Infidelity Risk Have with Mate Retention Behaviors and Semen-Displacing Behaviors.

The present studies investigated the relationships between men's perceived risk of experiencing sperm competition (i.e., when the ejaculates of two or more men simultaneously occupy the reproductive tract of a single woman), and their use of strategies to detect, prevent, and correct their partner's sexual infidelity. We investigated these associations using self-reports provided by men (Study 1, n = 113), partner-reports provided by women (Study 2, n = 136), and dyadic reports (Study 3, n = 103 couples). The results of these studies indicated that the attractiveness of women was consistently associated with men's use of benefit-provisioning mate retention behaviors (e.g., buying expensive gifts for one's partner, showing signs of physical affection) and semen-displacing behaviors (e.g., deeper copulatory thrusting, more thrusts during copulation), whereas the infidelity risk of women was often associated with men's use of cost-inflicting mate retention behaviors (e.g., threatening to end the relationship, monopolization of partner's free time). Discussion addresses the evolutionary implications of these results, including the possibility that men use both benefit-provisioning mate retention behaviors and semen-displacing behaviors when they perceive their partner to be more attractive, ostensibly as a way to mitigate their risk of sperm competition. Discussion also explores the extent to which these results extend those of previous studies concerning sperm competition risk.

Sexual Communal Strength Partially Mediates the Associations between Mate Retention Behaviors and Relationship Satisfaction.

Mate retention behaviors are associated with several aspects of romantic relationships, but different categories of mate retention behaviors have divergent associations with relationship satisfaction. The present studies examined whether sexual communal strength - which refers to the motivation to meet the sexual needs of one's partner - mediated the associations that benefit-provisioning and cost-inflicting mate retention behaviors had with relationship satisfaction. We investigated the associations that mate retention behaviors had with relationship satisfaction through sexual communal strength using men's self-reports (Study 1) and women's partner-reports (Study 2). We found that sexual communal strength partially mediated the associations that mate retention behaviors had with relationship satisfaction in both studies. Benefit-provisioning mate retention behaviors had a positive indirect association with relationship satisfaction through sexual communal strength in both studies, whereas cost-inflicting mate retention behaviors had a negative indirect association with relationship satisfaction through sexual communal strength in Study 1 but not in Study 2. We explore the reasons why sexual communal strength may play an important role in the connections that mate retention behaviors have with relationship satisfaction.

Erectile Dysfunction and Sexual Coercion: The Role of Sperm Competition Risk.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) has been shown to be associated with several negative aspects of intimate relationships. Our goal for the present research was to examine whether ED was associated with men's use of sexual coercion in their intimate relationships (which may include the use of physical coercion, psychological manipulation, or emotional manipulation to gain sexual access) and if perceived sperm competition risk (i.e., perceived risk of partner infidelity, which may place a man's sperm into competition with sperm from another man) played a role in this association. These associations were examined in Study 1 using self-reports provided by men (N = 202) who had a mean age of 30.48 years (SD = 5.03) and were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). ED was found to have a large positive association with sexual coercion. However, men's self-reports did not provide support for sperm competition risk moderating the association between ED and sexual coercion, but an exploratory analysis revealed that sperm competition risk mediated this association. We attempted to replicate and extend these results in Study 2 by using partner-reports provided by women (N = 151) who had a mean age of 30.41 years (SD = 4.77) and were recruited through MTurk. Women's partner-reports provided support for sperm competition risk moderating the association between ED and sexual coercion. In addition, an exploratory analysis found that sperm competition risk also mediated the association between ED and sexual coercion, similar to Study 1. Discussion explores the implications of these results for understanding the role that sperm competition risk may play in the connection between ED and sexual coercion.

Erectile Dysfunction and Partner-Directed Behaviors in Romantic Relationships: The Mediating Role of Suspicious Jealousy.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) has been shown to have a considerable impact on romantic relationships. The purpose of the present research was to examine whether the associations that ED had with men's mate retention behaviors, partner-directed insults, partner-directed violence, and injuries inflicted on the partner were mediated by suspicious jealousy but not reactive jealousy. These associations were examined using self-reports of men (Study 1) and partner-reports provided by women about their perceptions of their male partner (Study 2). The results of both studies indicated that suspicious jealousy (but not reactive jealousy) mediated the associations that ED had with the partner-directed behaviors of men in their romantic relationships. Specifically, higher levels of ED were associated with men experiencing (or being perceived to experience) more suspicious jealousy which, in turn, predicted their use of mate retention behaviors, partner-directed insults, and partner-directed violence as well as the infliction of injuries on their female partners. In our discussion, we address the evolutionary implications of these associations, as well as limitations and directions for future research on ED.