Sexual compatibility and the sexual desire-motivation relation in females with hypoactive sexual desire disorder.

Abstract

Fifty-four female participants with hypoactive sexual desire disorder supplied daily reports of their sexual desire and motivation. The relation between desire and motivation remained statistically significant when controlling for sexual compatibility, sexual stress, sexual fantasy, and marital and sexual satisfaction. Findings suggest that (a) women higher in sexual compatibility experience greater sexual motivation regardless of their marital and sexual satisfaction, their sexual desire intensity, and depressive symptomatology; and (b) the relation between sexual compatibility and sexual desire is mediated by the propensity of those women high in sexual compatibility to have greater marital and sexual satisfaction. Within-subject analyses that controlled for autocorrelation and linear trends in the time series revealed that 40% of the women experienced significantly higher sexual motivation on greater sexual desire days. A discussion of these findings and evidence for the addition of sexual motivation as a distinct phase in the human sexual response cycle are explored.