Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationship: Testing Evolutionary Hypothesis in a Sample of Italian Men

Abstract

Objective: The present research aims to testing the hypothesis suggesting that, according to evolutionary theory, sexual coercion and psychological violence in intimate relationship may be strongly related with male jealousy. We also suggest that sexual coercion could be related to anxious/avoidant attachment style and dissatisfaction. Design and Method: 700 males (18-65, M=32.01 SD= 10.58), in a relationship for at least 1 year, filled out questionnaires about socio-demographic and relationship information, a.e. jealousy, and satisfaction. Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationship (SCIRS, Goetz and Shackelford, 2009) and CaMir (Pierrehumbert et al., 1996) to assess attachment styles, were administered too. Results: Our results confirmed the hypothesis: higher scores in the SCIRS scale are correlated with jealousy (r= .311 p<.01), and satisfaction (r=-.267 p<.01). Participants with anxious and avoidant attachment style are more likely to have higher scores in the SCIRS questionnaire. Moreover, younger males (< 30 years old) show higher scores in the SCIRS total score (F=10.42, p<.01), and in the three subscales, Resource Manipulation/Violence (F=9.95, p<.01), Commitment Manipulation (F=10.30, p<.01) and Defection Threat (F=7.67, p<.05), than older participants, according to the evolutionary hypothesis. Conclusions: Sexual coercion could include physical force, in intimate relationship also may include emotional and resource manipulation. Our results have confirmed the hypothesis suggesting that those behaviours are related to jealousy, satisfaction, and anxious/avoidant attachment styles. We believe that these findings could be helpful to create ad hoc programs to prevent intimate violence and abuse.