The Link Between Sexual Disagreements and Separation Proneness: Differences Between Men and Women in a Culturally Diverse Sample

J Sex Res. 2023 Nov 14:1-9. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2023.2270508. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Traditional gender ideologies suggest that sexual disagreements are associated with union instability more strongly among men than among women. Previous studies of this topic were based on one panel survey initiated in the United States in the late 1980s and they provided contradictory results. We revisited this issue using the Generations and Gender Survey, a more recent panel that interviewed 19,446 respondents (43.3% were male and 56.7% were female; M age = 44.72, SD = 13.49) in mixed-sex partnerships in seven European countries. The results show that the association between sexual disagreements and separation proneness is stronger among women than among men. This conclusion contradicts expectations based on traditional feminine and masculine ideologies and indicates that the role of sexual disagreements in union instability deviates from traditional expectations.