The associations of intimacy and sexuality in daily life: Temporal dynamics and gender effects within romantic relationships
Open accessAbstract
The experience of emotional intimacy is assumed to play a particularly large role in maintaining sexual desire and partnered sexual activity in romantic relationships of longer duration. It is unclear whether the effect of intimacy on sexual contact between partners is direct or indirect, via its impact on sexual desire. Baumeister and Bratslavsky suggested that a certain increment in emotional intimacy causes a greater increment in sexual desire in men than in women. In the present study, we aimed to test the mediating role of sexual desire between perceived intimacy and sexual partner interaction and the gender effect as hypothesized by Baumeister and Bratslavsky. Experience sampling methodology in the participant’s natural environment was used. At 10 quasi-random moments per day, during 7 consecutive days, 134 participants reported their feelings of emotional intimacy, sexual desire, and sexual activity. The direct effect of intimacy on sexual partner interaction was not significant, but an indirect effect via sexual desire was observed. The strength of the association between intimacy and sexual desire diminished over time, from the strongest effect when intimacy, sexual desire, and sexual activity were measured simultaneously to a very small, but significant effect at an average time lag of 3 hr. At still larger time gaps, no effects were found. Men reported a higher average level of sexual desire than women, but the strength of the link between (increases in) intimacy and sexual desire was not different between the genders. The present findings suggest that in both male and female partners in romantic, long-term relationships, higher levels of intimacy are associated with higher sexual desire, which is, in turn, associated with higher odds for partnered sexual activity to occur. The temporal association of increasing intimacy and subsequent sexual desire appears not to be different in women and men.
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Higher levels of intimacy are linked to greater levels of sexual desire and participation.
“Moreover, higher levels of intimacy are also linked to greater levels of sexual desire and participation (Basson, 2000;Van Lankveld et al., 2018).”
From “Your Addiction, her Sexual Suffering”—A Qualitative Inquiry into the Effects of Compulsive Sexual Behaviors on Intimate Female Partners (2025) · cites this paper as Van Lankveld et al., 2018
In romantic relationships, emotional intimacy plays a significant role in sustaining sexual desire and partnered sexual activity.
“In romantic relationships, it is thought that the experience of emotional intimacy-which involves the experience of intense feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bonding (Sternberg, 1986)-plays a significant role in sustaining sexual desire and partnered sexual activity (Asadi et al., 2020;Birnbaum et al., 2016;Van Lankveld et al., 2018).”
From “Your Addiction, her Sexual Suffering”—A Qualitative Inquiry into the Effects of Compulsive Sexual Behaviors on Intimate Female Partners (2025) · cites this paper as Van Lankveld et al., 2018
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“Building on the theoretical work of Sternberg (1986) and Carver and Scheier (1990), Baumeister and Bratslavsky (1999) suggested that intimacy as such is not sufficient for inducing passion and sexual desire; instead, only abrupt rises in intimacy, such as when partners make up after a conflict,…”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Seyed Aghamiri, F., Luetz, J. M., & Hills, K. (2025) · Sexual Health & Compulsivity · doi:10.1080/26929953.2025.2481961 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Moreover, higher levels of intimacy are also linked to greater levels of sexual desire and participation (Basson, 2000; Van Lankveld et al., 2018).”
- Authors
- van Lankveld, J., Jacobs, N., Thewissen, V., Dewitte, M., & Verboon, P.
- Affiliations
- Open Universiteit of the Netherlands, the Netherlands
- Open University of the Netherlands (NL)
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Venue
- Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-03-23
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 557-576
- ISSN
- 0265-4075 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-3608
- PMC
- PMC5987853
- OpenAlex
- W2790101707
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 6.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DSpace (Open University in the Netherlands) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DSpace (Open University in the Netherlands) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Sexual function and dysfunction studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Marriage and Sexual Relationships
- Keywords
- emotional intimacy, sexual desire, sexual activity, romantic relationships, long-term relationships, gender differences, mediation, temporal dynamics, everyday life
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