“Within spouses (for each spouse), emotional intimacy and sexual satisfaction mediated the association between spouses’ appraisal of their partners’ communication and their own relationship satisfaction.”

“Gender differences were revealed in terms of how a spouse’s perception of sexual satisfaction is associated with his or her partner’s relationship satisfaction. In this study, although wives’ relationship satisfaction was not associated with their husbands’ sexual satisfaction, husbands tended to report high levels of relationship satisfaction when their wives reported greater sexual satisfaction.”

“Findings suggest that both components of intimacy—emotional and sexual—should be comprehensively addressed in research and clinical work with couples (Roels, R. et al., 2022).”

References

1. Roels, R., Rehman, U.S., Goodnight, J.A. et al. Couple Communication Behaviors During Sexual and Nonsexual Discussions and Their Association with Relationship Satisfaction. Arch Sex Behav 51, 1541–1557 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02204-4