New Work from Baker Challenges Popular Assumptions About Relationships

People have lots of lay theories about how relationships work. But do these lay theories reflect what psychological research reveals about the inner workings of relationships? In a large-scale collaboration, UNCG Ph.D. graduate Dr. Ashlyn Brady and her faculty mentor, Dr. Levi Baker, led work asking if men or women in relationships are more sexually satisfied. Countering theoretical perspectives and people’s lay beliefs about relationships, partnered women reported more sexual satisfaction than did partnered men. Additional analyses revealed that this relation was not a result of frequency of sexual behavior, relationship satisfaction, or considering partners’ own enjoyment. This work was published just in time for Valentine’s Day in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. Yet another example of how research can challenge our assumptions and make us think. Nice work!