What s in it for Me? An Investigation of the Impact of Sexual Narcissism in Sexual Relationships Nicole Cilona, Lauren Mandilakis, Jessica Olin, Roberta Rodriguez, Karen Vasquez Elyria, OH
Communication Global Communication Communication in relationships ultimately leads to higher relationship satisfaction (Lehmiller, VanderDrift, & Kelly, 2014) Sexual Communication Communication that comes from sharing sexually intimate or private information is regarded as sexual communication (MacNeil & Byers, 2005)
Sexual Communication Communication about sexuality is elemental to the development and maintenance of satisfying sexual relationships (MacNeil and Byers, 2005) Better sexual communication is associated with greater sexual and overall satisfaction in close relationships (Byers & Demmons, 1999; Greene & Faulkner, 2005) The current study focused on this specific form of communication and investigated its relationship with sexual satisfaction
Self-Esteem Global Self-Esteem Self-esteem has a significant positive relationship with sexual satisfaction (Larson, Anderson, Holman, & Niemann,1998) Sexual Esteem [One s] affective reactions to [their] subjective appraisals of [their] sexual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in the more specific domain of sexuality (Menard & Offman, 2009; Oattes & Offman, 2007)
Sexual Esteem Sexual esteem has a significant positive relationship with sexual satisfaction (Menard & Offman, 2009; Oattes & Offman, 2007) Gender differences in sexual esteem have been found: males had higher overall sexual esteem scores than females (Oattes & Offman, 2007) The current study focused on this specific form of esteem and investigated its relationship with sexual satisfaction
Eight Facets of Sexual Motives Operational Definition: The drive and wanting to engage in sexual behavior and or intercourse (Peterson & Muehlenhard, 2007) In the Mood Social Benefits Negative Consequences of Refusing Fear of Physical Harm Personal Gain Strengthening the Relationship Not Intoxicated Not a Virgin
Sexual Motives Culture, social experiences, and biological factors influence motives toward or away from sex (Hatfield, Luckhurst, Rapson, 2010) Women and men seek out different motives for sex (Hatfield et al., 2010; Stephenson, Ahrold, & Meston, 2011) Sexual motives significantly correlated with sexual satisfaction (Impett & Tolman, 2006) The current study investigated sex differences in sexual motives in the community college population
Narcissism Global Narcissism Links have been established between narcissism and sexual behaviors (Foster, Shrira, & Campbell, 2006; Hurlbert & Apt, 1991; Hurlbert, Apt, Gasar, Wilson, & Murphy, 1994; Widman & McNulty, 2010;) Sexual Narcissism An egocentric pattern of sexual behavior o Preoccupation with the satisfaction of one s own needs rather than with those of their partner (Hurlbert & Apt, 1991). Four domains (Widman & McNulty, 2010)
Sexual Narcissism Sexual Exploitation The willingness and ability to manipulate another for sexual gain Sexual Entitlement The belief that the fulfillment of one s sexual desire is a personal right Low Sexual Empathy General lack of empathy and devaluation of another person in sexual situations Perceived Sexual Skill A tendency to hold a grandiose sense of sexual skill or an exaggerated sense of sexual success Perceived Sexual Skill Sexual Exploitation Sexual Narcissism Low Sexual Empathy Sexual Entitlement
Sexual Narcissism Previous research has shown: A negative relationship between sexual satisfaction and sexual exploitation, sexual entitlement, low sexual empathy (Widman & McNulty, 2010) A positive relationship between sexual satisfaction and perceived sexual skill (Widman & McNulty, 2010) The current study focused on the differential relationships of the narcissism domains with sexual variables, sex differences in sexual narcissism, and its indirect relationship with sexual satisfaction
Hypotheses H1: Different domains of sexual narcissism will have different relationships with sexual satisfaction H2: Different domains of sexual narcissism will have different relationships with sexual esteem H3: Different domains of sexual narcissism will have different sexual motives H4: Men and women will differ in their sexual narcissism H5: Men and women will differ in their sexual motives H6: Sexual narcissism moderates the relationship between sexual communication and sexual satisfaction H7: Sexual narcissism moderates the relationship between sexual esteem and sexual satisfaction
Methodology Participants 156 community college students (age 18+) in Northeast Ohio enrolled in psychology classes Average age 23.38, 115 females/41 males, mostly Caucasian (75.60%) and unmarried (87.8%) 73.1% currently in intimate relationship, 43.6% of relationships are over 18 months in duration 82.7% reported 1-2 sexual partners during past 6 months Procedure An online survey consisting of 120 questions assessing the five studied variables and demographics
Measures Sexual Narcissism Scale (Widman & McNulty, 2010) o Sexual Exploitation- I would be willing to trick a person to get them to have sex with me ; a =.76 o Sexual Entitlement- I feel I deserve sexual activity when I am in the mood for it ; a =.80 o Low Sexual Empathy- The feelings of my sexual partner don t usually concern me ; a =.79 o Perceived Sexual Skill- My sexual partners think I am fantastic in bed ; a =.86 o Full Scale a =.85
Measures Sexual Esteem Scale (Snell & Papini, 1989) o I am a good sexual partner ; a =.92 Sexual Communication Scale (Wheeless, Wheeless, & Baus, 1984) o I tell my partner when I am especially sexually satisfied ; a =.92 Sexual Satisfaction Scale (Stulhofer, Busko, & Brouillard, 2010) o The intensity of my sexual arousal ; a =.90-.93 Sexual Wanting Questionnaire for Motives (Peterson & Muehlenhard, 2011) o I found the other person physically attractive o all subscales a =.72 -.95
Results H1: Different domains of sexual narcissism will have different relationships with sexual satisfaction Low sexual empathy had a significant negative relationship with sexual satisfaction (r(154) = -.35, p =.00) Perceived sexual skill had a significant positive relationship with sexual satisfaction (r(154) =.51, p =.00) Exploitation (r(154) = -.01, p =.87) and entitlement (r(154) =.15, p =.07) were not significantly related to sexual satisfaction
Results H2: Different domains of sexual narcissism will have different relationships with sexual esteem Sexual exploitation had a significant positive relationship with sexual esteem (r(154) =.22, p =.01) Sexual entitlement had a significant positive relationship with sexual esteem (r(154) =.35, p =.00) Perceived sexual skill had a significant positive relationship with sexual esteem (r(154) =.76, p =.04) Low sexual empathy had a significant negative relationship with sexual esteem (r(154) = -.17, p =.00)
Table 1 Results H3: Different domains of sexual narcissism will have different sexual motives Correlations Between Sexual Narcissism and Sexual Motive Motive: Not A Virgin Motive: Not Intoxicated Motive: In the Mood Motive: Neg. Consequences Motive: Personal Gain Motive: Social Benefits Motive: Fear of Physical Harm Motive: Strengthen Rel Narcissism: Total Scale.15.13.29**.26**.38**.21**.14.12 Narcissism: Exploitation.18*.17*.22**.32**.38**.29**.17*.16* Narcissism: Entitlement.08.15.32**.19*.31**.08.05.21** Narcissism: Low Empathy.05 -.16 -.08.18*.16*.12.09 -.24** Narcissism: Sexual Skill.06.12.24** -.03.11.07.07.08 * p <.05 ** p <.01
Results H3: Different domains of sexual narcissism will have different sexual motives Narcissism due to exploitation was significantly related to all motives Narcissism due to entitlement was significantly related to the motives of in the mood, personal gain, and to strengthen the relationship Narcissism due to low empathy was significantly related to negative consequences of refusing, personal gain, and to strengthen the relationship Narcissism due to perceived sexual skill was significantly related to in the mood (Refer to Table 1)
Results H4: Men and women will differ in their sexual narcissism Men were significantly higher than women in the sexual exploitation facet of narcissism (t(154) = 1.99, p =.048) H5: Men and women will differ in their sexual motives Men were significantly higher than women in three facets of motives o Social benefit (t(154) = 3.35, p =.00) o Strengthening the relationship (t(154) = 2.25, p =.03) o Not a virgin (t(154) = 2.23, p =.03)
Results H6: Sexual narcissism moderates the relationship between sexual communication and sexual satisfaction H7: Sexual narcissism moderates the relationship between sexual esteem and sexual satisfaction Sexual Communication Sexual Satisfaction Sexual Narcissism
Results 4.5 4.3 4.1 MODERATION OF ENTITLEMENT ON COMMUNICATION-SATISFACTION RELATIONSHIP High Entitlement (narcissistic) 3.9 SEXUAL SATISFACTION 3.7 3.5 3.3 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 SEXUAL COMMUNICATION Low Entitlement (not narcissistic) ΔR 2 =.02, p =.07 Figure 1. There is marginal support that narcissism due to entitlement was a moderator of the sexual communication-sexual satisfaction relationship. Though it is clear that those higher in sexual communication tended to be more sexually satisfied, entitlement intensified the importance of communication. At high communication levels, those who felt entitled to sex were more satisfied than those who did not feel entitled because their communication was successful in obtaining what they felt that they deserved.
Results 4.5 4 MODERATION OF LOW EMPATHY ON SEXUAL ESTEEM-SATISFACTION RELATIONSHIP Low Low Empathy (not narcissistic) SEXUAL SATISFACTION 3.5 3 2.5 High Low Empathy (narcissistic) ΔR 2 =.02, p =.06 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 SEXUAL ESTEEM Figure 2. There is marginal support that narcissism due to having low empathy was a moderator of the sexual esteem-satisfaction relationship. When a person could sexually empathize with another person, then regardless of sexual esteem, they were more satisfied. However, when a person was narcissistic because they do not understand and relate to others sexual needs, sexual esteem really matters. Those who have low sexual esteem coupled with low empathy have low sexual satisfaction. The sexual satisfaction for narcissists with high sexual esteem was driven by their sexual esteem.
Results 4.5 4.3 4.1 MODERATION OF SKILL ON SEXUAL ESTEEM-SATISFACTION RELATIONSHIP High Skill (narcissistic) SEXUAL SATISFACTION 3.9 3.7 3.5 3.3 3.1 2.9 2.7 Low Skill (not narcissistic) ΔR 2 =.02, p =.07 2.5 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 SEXUAL ESTEEM Figure 3. There is marginal support that narcissism due to feeling highly skilled was a moderator of the sexual esteem-satisfaction relationship. For those who are not narcissistic, the level of sexual esteem did not affect sexual satisfaction. But for those who are narcissistic due to perceived high level of skill, sexual satisfaction was higher when their sexual esteem is low.
Discussion Different domains of sexual narcissism showed different relationships with sexual satisfaction, sexual esteem, and sexual motives There was marginal support that sexual narcissism moderated the relationship between sexual satisfaction and sexual communication as well as the relationship between sexual satisfaction and sexual esteem o Continue investigation of sexual narcissism and its relationship to other variables to more fully understand sexual satisfaction Men and women differed in sexual narcissism and sexual motives
Implications To more fully understand sexual satisfaction by investigating specific variables (sexual esteem, sexual communication, sexual narcissism) rather than global variables Understanding sexual satisfaction to improve relationship satisfaction To continue to investigate gender differences in sexual motives and sexual narcissism which may help in relationship counseling
Limitations Restricted range of participant ages Would like a stronger sample size for males Extra credit was offered for taking the survey so people could have been quickly trying to get through it People may have become embarrassed when they started reading the questions and not answered truthfully
Future Research Compare married and unmarried groups to determine any differences in our hypotheses Investigate how gender plays a role in the study of narcissism and sexual satisfaction Include both parties of the relationship in the study to explore how a narcissist's partner views the relationship and resulting sexual satisfaction
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