Sex and Mental Health: Examining the Association Between Sex and Mental Health Among Single and Partnered People

Abstract

With a growing number of individuals actively choosing not to get married (Amato, 2010; Santos & Weiss, 2016), there is a need to understand sex among singles beyond the college contexts. We know little about how single people’s sex lives influence their psychological wellbeing. Part one of this research examines the association between four distinct types of casual sex relationships and two psychological well-being measures: life satisfaction and depressive symptoms in an online sample (N = 393). For women, engaging in more rather than fewer intimate casual sex relationships (i.e., Sex Buddy) was related to higher life satisfaction. Conversely, engaging in less intimate casual sex relationships (i.e., One-Night Stand) was associated with greater depressive symptoms for women, but higher life satisfaction for men. Part two of this research contrasts the role of sexual satisfaction to psychological well-being among single and partnered people using a large representative dataset of New Zealanders (N = 47,951). We found an association between higher sexual satisfaction and two measures of psychological well-being outcomes: lower depressive symptoms and higher life satisfaction. These associations remained consistent across the interacting forces of sexual orientation, relationship status, and gender, with minor differences in each association’s magnitude. Taken together, the findings suggest that people having the type of sex they most desire will experience the most favorable psychological well-being outcomes, irrespective of their sexual orientation, relationship status or gender. The current research adds to the literature by illustrating the importance of single people’s sex lives to their psychological well-being.