| The current investigation shows that people in romantic relationships compare their sex lives to the sex lives of other people and that these comparisons influence sexual and relationship satisfaction. Specifically, I show that those who are high in sexual narcissism, people who have a grandiose sense of their sexual self, and a lack of empathy for their sexual partners (Widman & McNulty, 2010), are more reactive than those who are lower in sexual narcissism to sexual comparisons to superior relationships because they feel that unfavourable sexual comparisons suggest that their partner is not good enough for them. In Study 1, I found that those high in sexual narcissism were more likely to recall downward sexual comparisons, which boosted their sexual and relationship satisfaction. In Study 2, I found that those high in sexual narcissism reported that they would be more bothered by upward sexual comparisons, which in turn predicted lower sexual and relationship satisfaction. In Studies 3 and 4, I showed that those high in sexual narcissism felt less sexual and relationship satisfaction after an upward sexual comparison, compared to those low in sexual narcissism. In Studies 5 and 6, I showed that sexual narcissists were more bothered by upward comparisons due to concerns about the partner being inferior. In Study 7, I found that those high in sexual narcissism make marginally more downward sexual comparisons, which predicts higher daily sexual and relationship satisfaction. Collectively, the current findings suggest that people do make comparisons in a variety of sexual domains in their day-to-day lives, and that these comparisons have predictable consequences for sexual and relationship satisfaction. Further, this research suggest that sexual narcissism is an important individual difference variable in determining how people make and respond to sexual comparisons in the context of their relationships. |
