Associations between parenthood, relationship, and sexual satisfaction in sex therapy patients

Abstract

Parenthood has often been associated with lower levels of relationship and sexual satisfaction. However, this effect has rarely been studied beyond transition to parenthood and/or in clinical samples and few studies have examined parenthood as a moderator between relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine whether parenthood (being a parent or not) acts as a moderator of the relationship between relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction among women and men consulting in sex therapy ( n = 219). Results indicated that mothers report lower levels of relationship satisfaction compared to non-parent women, whereas no difference was found for sexual satisfaction. Results also showed that parenthood acts as a moderator between relationship and sexual satisfaction, with differing effects for men and women. More precisely, relationship satisfaction was associated with increased sexual satisfaction in men and in non-parent women only. For mothers, relationship satisfaction was not linked to sexual satisfaction. Findings suggest that relationship satisfaction is lower in mothers compared to non-parent women and is also unrelated to sexual satisfaction in mothers, indicating specificities regarding sexual satisfaction and its correlates in others. These results have implications, particularly for interventions with mothers attending sex therapy.