BDSM: Does it Hurt or Help Sexual Satisfaction, Relationship Satisfaction, and Relationship Closeness?

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Documents

  • Fulltext

    Accepted author manuscript, 438 KB, PDF document

This national web-population study from Norway (N = 4,148) assessed 1) the prevalence of BDSM and role-play interests and behaviors, 2) the socio-demographic characteristics of the BDSM-oriented participants, and 3) the associations between a) BDSM and b) role-play interests and behaviors, and sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and relationship closeness. Over one in three study participants endorsed at least one BDSM interest or behavior variable. There were no gender nor educational level differences between the BDSM-oriented participants and their traditional "vanilla" (non-BDSM-oriented) counterparts, though BDSM and interests were more common among younger and self-identified LGBQ+ participants. Sexual satisfaction was positively associated with role-play and BDSM behaviors while interest in role-play (but not having previously engaged in it) was negatively associated with this outcome. Lower relationship closeness was associated with an interest in role-play (but not having tried it). No BDSM-related variables were significantly associated with relationship closeness. The findings suggest that BDSM interests and behaviors are relatively common and are linked with sexual and relationship satisfaction.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Sex Research
Volume59
Issue number2
Pages (from-to) 248-257
Number of pages10
ISSN0022-4499
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

    Research areas

  • SPINAL-CORD-INJURY, PARAPHILIC INTERESTS, VAGINAL STIMULATION, SELF-STIMULATION, SINGLE-ITEM, SADOMASOCHISM, NONMONOGAMY, COMMUNICATION, PREVALENCE, ATTACHMENT

ID: 275057650