Nina Dours
Major/Minor: Psychology and Screenwriting
Title: Beliefs about Love and Sex: Predictors of Heterosexually Identified Women’s and Men’s Desire for and Previous Engagement in Consensual Non-Monogamy
Abstract: Consensual non-monogamous relationships (CNM) are ones in which an agreement has been made regarding having multiple romantic and/or sexual partners. Heterosexual men consistently report greater interest and previous engagement in consensually non-monogamous relationships (CNM) than heterosexual women. This gender difference may be due to women’s stronger adherence to the traditional sexual script, which is rooted in gendered and monogamous dating norms that punish women who engage in uncommitted sexual behaviors. The present study examined how heterosexual men’s and women’s adherence to the traditional sexual script and permissiveness towards casual sex affects their desire and previous engagement and desire in CNM using data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (n = 3,008). Binary logistic regressions revealed that gender moderated the effect of endorsement of traditional sexual scripts as well as attitudes toward casual sex on previous engagement in CNM, B = -0.38, p = .008 and B = -.31, p = .005. However, no moderation effect was found for desire. It appears that heterosexual men’s and women’s fantasies related to CNM are similar, though their behaviors are different, which may be due to traditional gendered dating norms.
