Anotated Bibiliography - the Relationship Between Family-Of-Origin Experiences and Sexual Satisfaction in Married Couples

Emily Burke

Annotated bibliography

Dr. Thomas

4/6/2015

Strait, J. G., Sandberg, J. G., Larson, J. H. and Harper, J. M. (2015), The relationship between family-of-origin experiences and sexual satisfaction in married couples. Journal of Family Therapy, 37: 361–385. doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.1200

Data from the 3953 couples who participated in the relationship evaluation was used to further explore the relationship between family-of-origin and sexual satisfaction. The survey was conducted online. Couples were recruited through referrals by therapists, researchers and other public advertising. Information was gathered by using the multidimensional measure called the RELATE questionnaire. It consisted of over 250 items. “The variables measured using RELATE were perceptions of each partner's own family of origin and reported sexual satisfaction in the marriage, with marital quality as a possible mediating variable”. Many different scaled were used measuring these elements. “The study was designed to propose and test a model of marital sexuality where the influence of a person's overall perception of family of origin, perception of parents’ marriage, perception of the father–child or mother–child relationships and marital quality could be measured simultaneously”.   Family-of-origin and parent–child relationships predicted higher sexual satisfaction; though that relationship was highly arbitrated mediated by marriage quality. There was also a positive relationship between marriage quality and sexual fulfillment/satisfaction. No big gender differenced appeared. Over all the results No major gender differences emerged from the findings. The results out forward that that family-of-origin experiences does play a big role when it comes to sexual fulfillment of married people, particularly when arbitrated by marriage quality, this should be examined in therapy, education, and research.  

Schmiedeberg, C., & Schroder, J. (2016, January 1). Does Sexual Satisfaction Change With Relationship Duration? April 04, 2016, http://dx.doi.org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1007/s10508-015-0587-0 

The goal of this study was to explore if sexual satisfaction changes as a relationship progresses. It was hypothesized that, “a positive learning effect, a negative habituation (or diminishing marginal utility) effect, or combinations of both effects could be expected”. The study was not necessarily driven by the hypothesis itself; rather it was driven by the research question seeing what change of patterns could be found in the data. The reason for the study was to overcome the existing limitations of other studies. In order to do so the researchers used a big random sample German panel study, using fixed effects regression.  A fixed effect model was used in order to assess the changes in individual’ sexual satisfaction throughout their relationship. It was concluded/found that in the first year of a relationship strong sexual satisfaction is developed. This continued even when considering the frequency of intercourse.  Researchers also found, “significant effects for the control variables of health status, intimacy in couple communication, and conflict style, as expected.” Unlike in previous research, cohabitation and marriage were found not to effect or influence sexual satisfaction. The researchers recommend further research in order to further understand the reasons sexual satisfaction changes as a relationship progresses.