Perceived female infidelity and male sexual coercion concerning first sex in Chinese college students' dating relationships: The mediating role of male partners' attachment insecurity

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that female infidelity, attachment insecurity, and male sexual coercion in intimate relationships are empirically related to each other. However, the mechanisms that are involved remain poorly understood. The study aimed to examine two mediating models of male sexual coercion concerning first sex in Chinese college students' dating relationships (perceived female infidelity or attachment insecurity as the mediator), with both male and female participants (not using dyadic data). A total of 927 validly completed questionnaires provided the data; the respondents were recruited by purposive snowball sampling of students attending colleges in five of China's largest cities who were currently in a romantic relationship. First, with both the male and female samples, perceived female infidelity was positively correlated with violence threat coercive tactics; and, with the male sample only, it was positively correlated with emotional manipulation coercive tactics. Second, with the male sample only, male partners' attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance) were positively correlated with perceived female infidelity. Third, male partners' attachment anxiety fully mediated the relationship between perceived female infidelity and emotional manipulation coercive tactics. These findings suggest how the proximate and ultimate causes of sexual coercion in intimate relationships interact. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.