Search Here

Having sex more frequently doesn't necessarily make couples happier but has a bit of a role to play in how connected they feel about each other. Frequent sex has an impact on "automatic, gut-level feelings" a person has on the partner but doesn't influence their happiness levels, reports a study published in Psychological Science.

"We found that the frequency with which couples have sex has no influence on whether or not they report being happy with their relationship, but their sexual frequency does influence their more spontaneous, automatic, gut-level feelings about their partners," says psychological scientist Lindsey L. Hicks of Florida State University, lead author on the research, reported Eurekalert.

The spontaneous and automatic feelings of one partner towards the other could help in predicting the chances of couples becoming dissatisfied with the relationship. The researchers also have it that having sex frequently is good in evolutionary point of view since the chances of conception are relatively high. Frequent sex also improves the bondage between the partners as well as helps them to be more cooperative in terms of child-rearing.

However, these advantages don't have any influence on the happiness factor between the couples. The researchers noted that spontaneous, automatic, gut-level feelings of one partner towards the other don't affect their levels of relationship satisfaction and therefore frequent sex and satisfaction don't go hand in hand as expected.

About 216 newlyweds were included in the study and as a part of the research they were asked to complete survey-style questionnaire regarding their relationship satisfaction. The questions covered were to be answered as bad-good, dissatisfied-satisfied or unpleasant-pleasant when asked about differences in their opinions and "We have a good marriage" and so on for satisfaction related questions.

They were also subjected to a computer classification test in which they were asked to give positive or negative answers for the word that appeared on the screen. The picture of their partner appeared for 300 millisecond before every word in order for them to relate their partner to the given word.

"Our findings suggest that we're capturing different types of evaluations when we measure explicit and automatic evaluations of a partner or relationship," says Hicks, according to Science Daily. "Deep down, some people feel unhappy with their partner but they don't readily admit it to us, or perhaps even themselves."