Women derive more pleasure from casual sex when they seek out the encounters themselves.
In a groundbreaking study, researchers have delved into the factors that influence regret after casual sexual encounters among men and women. The study, conducted by Norwegian investigators including Mons Bendixen and Leif Edvard Ottesen Kennair, along with collaborators from the University of Texas at Austin, Melbourne, and the Institute of Social Neuroscience, provides valuable insights into the complex emotions surrounding casual sex.
The research involved 547 Norwegian and 216 American students and examined hook-ups, finding that initiative is the clearest gender-differentiating factor for regret after casual sex. The study asked participants about their initiative, pressure, partner's skill, and feelings of disgust during casual sex.
For men, the study found that regret for casual sex is not affected by whether they take the initiative. However, for women, taking the initiative in casual sex is likely to lead to less regret, as they are likely to have a healthier sexual psychology and maximum choice over their partners. This finding aligns with the theory that women's regret for casual sex should be more closely tied to the quality of their sex partner, due to women's higher minimum obligatory parental investment.
Women who reported feeling sexually satisfied and partnered with a skilled individual experienced less regret. Conversely, women admitted feeling disgust more often than men after casual sex, and this was a key factor in their regret. The findings suggest that sexual disgust is an important adaptive emotion that helps people avoid potentially low-value or risky sex partners.
The study's results demonstrate the potential for a theory-based cumulative science in psychology, as the same findings were obtained in several rounds and from different cultures. The findings of the study were consistent with previous research by Bendixen, Kennair, and their collaborators.
Joy P. Wyckoff, a Ph.D. candidate, and Professor David M. Buss at the University of Texas at Austin, and Kelly Asao, a lecturer at the Institute of Social Neuroscience in Melbourne, also contributed to the study.
Interestingly, a larger proportion of Norwegian participants had casual sex than the Americans, but the patterns of regret were similar between the two groups. This suggests that cultural differences may play a lesser role in the emotions surrounding casual sex than previously thought.
The study adds to the understanding of factors that can explain responses to casual sex, offering a step forward in the exploration of human sexual behaviour and its emotional consequences. The findings contribute to the ongoing research by Bendixen and Kennair, along with their collaborators, who have been studying people's perceptions of their own and others' sexuality and regret for several years.
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