The importance of sexual self-disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness in sexual intimacy: the proposition of an interpersonal process model.

Abstract

The current study was conducted to give an explanation of the interpersonal processes in sexual ntimacy. This was done by proposing a model which represents the relationship between various intra-and interpersonal aspects in sexual intimacy. Herein, sexual self-disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness were key components because of their interpersonal nature. The main purpose of the current research was to assess if the suggested model provided evidence for the interpersonal processes of sexual intimacy within dyadic intimate relationships. The relationship between intrapersonal sexuality aspects, sexual self-disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness was therefore investigated. The second purpose was to examine if there was an association between perceived partner responsiveness (PPR) and sexual satisfaction. Participants (N = 198) completed a questionnaire that measured the intrapersonal factors sexual beliefs, fears, motivation and satisfaction and the interpersonal factors sexual self-disclosure and PPR. In general, the results provided evidence for the proposed interpersonal processes in sexual intimacy. More specifically, significant predictive values in the relation between sexual beliefs and fears on the one hand and sexual self-disclosure on the other hand were found. Furthermore, sexual self- disclosure partially predicted PPR. PPR in turn predicted sexual fears, beliefs and motivation. Finally, a significant predictive relation between PPR and sexual satisfaction was found. To conclude, the results generally supported the hypotheses and provided evidence regarding the associations between intrapersonal sexuality factors, sexualself disclosure and PPR and therefore supported the model as proposed in this study.