Friends With Benefits Relationships Research Articles

Exploring friends with benefits: a review of research and insights from the Polish context

Introduction and Objective :"Friends with benefits" relationships (FWBR) are becoming increasingly common. Defined as friendships involving sexual activity without romantic commitment, FWBRs blur the boundaries between friendship and romance. The aim of this article is to gather the most up-to-date information on "friends with benefits" relationships.Review Methods: A review of studies available on the PubMed platform (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) was conducted, including articles with free full-text access that used the keywords: “friends with benefits relationship”, “friends with benefits,” "FWB," and "FWBR."Brief Description of the State of Knowledge: Many individuals involved in friends with benefits relationships establish their own rules, and one surprising trend is the frequent observance of sexual exclusivity. Research on the prevalence of FWBRs has focused largely on students in the USA, but there is limited data on FWBRs in Poland, where they appear to be rising in popularity, influenced by dating sites and population migrations. Studies indicate that men, residents of larger cities, and less religious individuals are more likely to participate in FWBRs.Summary: FWBRs offer a unique dynamic where individuals can avoid the emotional commitments and negative traits of traditional romantic relationships. However, these relationships also present challenges, such as differing expectations between the partners and the societal stigma that may be associated with them.

Commitment and Extra-Dyadic Sexual Activity in College Students’ Friends with Benefits Relationships: Moderating Effects of Gender

ABSTRACT Friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) are a common form of relationship for college students that combine aspects of friendship with sex, yet little is known about commitment in these relationships and whether they are more similar to casual relationships or to romantic relationships. We investigated associations between investment, alternatives, and satisfaction, with commitment (per the Investment Model) in college students’ FWBRs and examined how associations between variables differ by participant and partner gender. Primary analyses were conducted with male-female FWBRs (n = 252). Male-male (n = 19) and female-female (n = 4) FWBRs are described. Investment was the strongest predictor of commitment for participants in male-female FWBRs, with commitment higher among women than men when investment was high. Additionally, participants’ perceptions that their own and their partners’ commitment was asymmetrical, as well as reports of extra-dyadic sexual activity (i.e., sex outside the FWBR) correlated with lower commitment to the FWBR. Overall, results suggest that FWBRs can be distinguished not only from other casual sexual relationships such as hookups but can also be differentiated from romantic relationships. Future research and intervention work should measure commitment and investment to predict how these relationships can persist, as well as transition, over time.

Motivations, Expectations, Ideal Outcomes, and Satisfaction in Friends With Benefits Relationships Among Rural Youth

Characterized by repeated sexual contact with a known partner without the expectation of commitment, friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) are increasing among youth. Yet, less is known about the motivations for, or satisfaction in, FWBRs especially among youth from rural areas. Youth from rural communities reported on their experiences in FWBRs. Findings indicated that youths’ major motivation for FWBRs was sexual satisfaction, although gender differences emerged. Sexual motivation was associated with relationship satisfaction. The majority of youth wanted to maintain their friendship following the FWBR, and most described the experience as satisfying. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Examining Rules in Friends with Benefits Relationships.

Establishing communicative and behavioral boundaries in romantic relationships provides partners with a greater sense of relational stability and certainty. For romantic relationships, these boundaries, such as sexual exclusivity, are relatively straightforward. For casual sex relationships, however, the relational rules are less stable and certain. This exploratory study examined rules in friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) for 109 college students in the USA. Responses to open-ended questions were collected through an online questionnaire, and data were qualitatively analyzed through an inductive thematic analysis. The data were structured into communication rules, sexual rules, and relational definition rules. Results provide overlap and extension of previous work investigating rules in FWBRs. Notably, participants reported sexual exclusivity as an important rule. Additionally, potentially competing discourses in FWBR rules were best understood through the lens of relational dialectics. Findings reflect a tension in terms of relational work, as partners struggle with maintaining their sexual and friendship relationship while not falling into the "territory" of romantic relationships.

Investigating and Extending Variation among Friends with Benefits Relationships: Relationship Maintenance and Social Support

ABSTRACTThe considerable diversity in friends with benefits relationships (FWBR) is largely unexplored. Therefore, this investigation focuses on differences in the communication of relationship maintenance and social support across FWBR types. Given that communication influences relationship initiation, maintenance, and termination, the frequency of maintenance and support behaviors should differ dramatically across FWBR types. Large differences appeared across five of seven relational maintenance, and all five social support, dimensions, which further validate differences among FWBR types and place communication at the heart of these differences. To overcome limitations of FWBR types, a two-dimensional model of FWBRs (closeness and romantic desire) is introduced to more simply explicate diversity. Finally, we discuss practical and theoretical implications of both the results and the dimensional perspective.

Deceptive Affection Across Relational Contexts: A Group Comparison of Romantic Relationships, Cross-Sex Friendships, and Friends With Benefits Relationships

Communicating affection is important for developing and maintaining relationships; yet, it can be risky when it is used deceptively. Grounded in affection exchange theory (AET), the purpose of the present study is to test how types of deceptive affection—or incongruity between affection felt and expressed—predicts relational health differently across three relational contexts: romantic relationships (RRs), cross-sex friendships (CSFs), and friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs). Multiple group analyses using structural equation modeling ( n = 526 college students) revealed varying relational types provide both intensified and withheld affection, with FWBRs experiencing both types of deceptive affection the most. Furthermore, intensified affection is positively related to relational health outcomes in RRs, and withheld affection negatively predicts relational health in FWBRs. Findings suggest that differences exist between relational types and both types of deceptive affection and relational health. Theoretical implications for expanding AET Postulates 3 and 5 are discussed.

Netflix and chill?: Exploring and refining differing motivations in friends with benefits relationships

Previous work on friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) has demonstrated a need for more specific attention to exploring the motivations for engaging in such relationships. Moreover, recent research has revealed new developments in the complexities of FWBRs in general, prompting a reevaluation of previously noted trends. This manuscript contains two studies. Study 1 used open coding to condense the existing typologies of FWBR motivations, uncovering a previously undocumented motivation, labeled sliding. Study 2 replicates study 1, and also accounts for multiple simultaneous motivations as well as potential motivational changes throughout the duration of FWBRs. Results reveal that most people in FWBRs only experience one motivation for engaging in their relationships. Moreover, motivations tend to change as FWBRs develop, including desires for relational escalation, de-escalation, and companionship. Sex differences as well as relationship type differences are discussed as well.

Exploring the Association between Hostile Attribution Bias and Intimate Partner Violence in College Students: Romantic Relationships and Friends with Benefits

ABSTRACTThis study sought to investigate the relationship between the hostile attribution bias (HAB) and five forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration (physical abuse, threatening behavior, sexual abuse, relational aggression, and emotional and verbal abuse) using a sample of college students. This study was the first in the literature to investigate the association between HAB and IPV in college students’ friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs), and one of the few studies to study the association between HAB and IPV in college students’ romantic relationships. College students (N = 241) who reported being involved with at least one romantic relationship or FWBR in the past year were recruited from an undergraduate pool of Introduction to Psychology students. Participants took an online survey that measured IPV perpetration in romantic relationships and FWBRs during the past year and general HAB to instrumental and relational provocations. Data were analyzed using a series of logistic regressions. Results were only partially consistent with hypotheses and should be interpreted as exploratory. In romantic relationships, higher levels of HAB were associated with male physical abuse and threatening behavior and female sexual abuse. In FWBRs, higher levels of HAB were associated with female emotional and verbal abuse, and threatening behavior and sexual abuse for the full sample. Findings suggest that HAB may relate to IPV in college students’ romantic and FWBRs.

“I’ll call you…” Communication frequency as a regulator of satisfaction and commitment across committed and casual sexual relationship types

Casual sexual relationships (CSRs) are common among young adults. Although it is a widely discussed topic in the popular media, little empirical work has examined the expectations related to communication within these relationships. Moreover, few studies have made comparative examinations across various relationship types. Through two studies, we first identified the differences in communication, satisfaction, and commitment across relationship types. Then we examined communication frequency as a regulator of satisfaction and commitment across relationship types. In Study 1, participants responded to a hypothetical relationship scenario depicting either a committed relationship (CR), friends with benefits (FWB), or a booty call/fuck buddy relationship (BC/FB); they indicated how committed and satisfied they would feel as well as how frequently they would communicate with the partner. Participants in Study 2 reported on these variables in their most recently terminated relationship. Overall, we found the highest frequencies of commitment and communication in CRs; BCs/FBs and other similar CSRs had the lowest. FWBs often fell between the other two categories. Satisfaction did not differ reliably across relationship types. A serial mediational analysis revealed that the more a relationship was considered to be a CR, the more partners communicated, which was associated with more satisfaction and, in turn, commitment. Our findings highlight the distinctions between expectations within FWB relationships, compared to other relationships types, suggesting that they fall somewhere between CRs and other CSRs on commitment and relational expectations. In addition, the results support the idea that individuals intentionally regulate their communication to maintain the expected level of commitment within a relationship.

Gender, Sexual Agency, and Friends with Benefits Relationships

Recent trends suggest that friends with benefits (FWB) relationships are prevalent among emerging adults on college campuses. Notably, young women are just as likely to participate in these relationships as young men, a finding that differentiates FWBs from heterosexual hook ups, where women traditionally report less participation. As such, it has been suggested that friends with benefits relationships may provide young women an avenue to explore and achieve sexual agency. Yet, whether emerging adults actually perceive friends with benefits relationships as affording women sexual agency has not been explored explicitly. In this study, we focus on female sexual agency and examine whether college women and men perceive FWB relationships as a means of expressing women’s sexual agency. Based on focus group discussions with 71 women and 35 men at a large public university, this study explores the myriad ways that students make sense of FWB relationships. Focus group discussions focused on the themes of empowerment, control, and safety in FWB relationships; we examine these themes in order to provide a nuanced analysis of FWB relationships as an increasingly widespread sexual behavior among young people on college campuses.

Kto i z jakich powodów angażuje się w związek Friends with Benefits?

Związek Friends with Benefits (FWB) (w dosłownym tłumaczeniu „przyjaciele z korzyścią/bonusem”) to relacja, w której przyjaciele utrzymują ze sobą powtarzalne kontakty seksualne, wykluczająca jednak romantyczne zaangażowanie. Badania skupiły się na wybranych aspektach związków Friends with Benefits, należą do nich: rozpowszechnienie omawianych związków, motywy, oczekiwania i charakterystyka ich uczestników. Badania miały na celu określić różnice w sposobie, w jaki mężczyźni i kobiety nawiązują „przyjaźń z bonusem”. W tym celu przeprowadzono za pośrednictwem Internetu badania wśród osób zaangażowanych obecnie w relacje FWB (łącznie 134 osoby, w tym 65 mężczyzn i 65 kobiet). Wyniki wskazują na wiele podobieństw, ale także różnic, bowiem seks był częściej wymienianym motywem do rozpoczęcia takich relacji przez mężczyzn, podczas gdy motywy emocjonalne i seksualne w równym stopniu motywowały kobiety. Związki te postrzegane są jako nowość w dziedzinie relacji międzyludzkich, a w szczególności w obszarze polskich badań, i wymagają dalszej eksploracji.

Psychological Well-Being as a Predictor of Casual Sex Relationships and Experiences among Adolescents: A Short-Term Prospective Study.

Psychological characteristics may predispose youths to engage in casual sex relationships and experiences (CSREs). Using a prospective longitudinal design and in a subsample of 2601 high school students in the province of Québec, we explored possible shifts in engaging in one-night stands (ONSs) and friends with benefits (FWB) relationships over a 6-month period among sexually active adolescents. We also examined the relationships among well-being predictors (psychological distress, self-esteem, suicidal ideation, and alcohol and drug consumption) and these shifts while exploring possible gender differences. Multinomial regressions in Mplus were used to explore whether initial psychological well-being was related to entrance type, the transition from having no CSREs to having one, or discontinuation or continuation type. Frequent alcohol consumption (i.e., once or twice a week or more) for boys and frequent consumption of both alcohol and drugs for girls were associated with continuation of CSREs. Suicidal ideation was associated with entrance into FWB relationships as well as continuation of FWB relationships and ONSs for girls. Psychological distress was a predictor of discontinuation of ONSs for boys. These results suggested that interventions should consider the specific and common needs of both genders in regard to ONSs and FWB relationships.

Consequences of Casual Sex Relationships and Experiences on Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being: A Prospective Study

Casual sexual relationships and experiences (CSREs) are still considered to be detrimental to the psychological well-being of youth even though findings remain inconclusive. Most studies have focused on emerging adulthood. Using a prospective design based on a representative sample of high school students in the province of Québec, we measured sexually active adolescents’ (N = 2,304) psychological well-being six months after engaging in these relationships while controlling for prior well-being. We analyzed two forms of CSREs, friends with benefits (FWB) and one-night stand (ONS) relationships, as well as levels of sexual intimacy. The results show that CSREs had a small impact (small effect sizes) on subsequent psychological well-being, especially among girls; FWB relationships involving penetrative contact increased girls’ psychological distress and both their alcohol and drug consumption. ONSs including sexual touching increased girls’ psychological distress and their drug use. None of the CSREs influenced boys’ psychological well-being. The findings underscored the importance of using caution when arguing that CSREs are detrimental or harmless to the psychological well-being of adolescents. The results also highlight the importance of taking into account gender and forms of CSREs in prevention and health interventions.

Friends with benefits? Gendered performances in women's casual sexual relationships

AbstractAlthough some research has examined “friends with benefits” relationships (FWBRs), women's subjective accounts of FWBRs remains notably understudied. Utilizing attachment theory, scripting theory, and social constructionist theories of gender, this study drew upon qualitative interviews with a community sample of 20 women (mean age = 34, SD = 13.35) from diverse ages, races, and sexual identity backgrounds to illuminate five themes in women's FWBR narratives: (a) regulation and suppression of emotions, (b) performance and idealization of detachment and emotionlessness, (c) lack of clear communication combined with “other‐defined” experiences, (d) replication of racist and sexist scripts, and (e) transitional qualities of the relationship. Implications for the power differentials present in FWBRs, and tensions between subverting and further entrenching relationship scripts, are explored.

Does Pornography Consumption Increase Participation in Friends with Benefits Relationships?

Friends with benefits (FWB) relationships integrate two types of relationships—friendship and a relationship that includes sexual intimacy but without an expectation of commitment. These relationships are often seen as less risky than other casual sexual behaviors, but they still pose a high risk of contracting an STI. Pornography consumption has been connected to increases in risky sexual behavior in other types of casual sex. In two studies (Study 1 N = 850; Study 2 N = 992), we examined the hypothesis that pornography use influences FWB behaviors, specifically through the mechanism of sexual scripts. Our results demonstrate that more frequent viewing of pornography is associated with a higher incidence of FWB relationships, a higher number of unique FWB partners, and engagement in all types of risky sexual behaviors during FWB relationships. We did a direct replication of these effects in Study 2 with all point estimates falling within their respective confidence intervals. We also examined these effects while controlling for the stability of FWB behaviors over the course of a semester. Finally, we provided evidence that more permissive sexual scripts mediated the association between frequency of pornography use and FWB behaviors. We discuss our findings with an eye toward mitigating public health risks among emerging adults.

Identity Management in Interpersonal Relationships

The idea for this issue began with a simple question—what role does communication play in emerging adulthood? Most emerging adulthood scholarship does not center on communication. At best, communication is a variable or an implied afterthought cast as secondary to larger issues of life stage and transition. Although interdisciplinary approaches to emerging adulthood are expanding, communication has yet to become part of these larger academic discussions. The radical suggestion that communication perhaps constitutes and even structures emerging adulthood centers our approach in this issue. What about this particular period of life impacts communication skills? How does emerging adulthood shape communication patterns? What is distinctive about emerging adulthood from a communication perspective? If children and adolescents are no longer allowed the kind of agency and direction afforded in previous generations, and parents play a larger role in shaping and defining behavior until emerging adulthood, it makes sense that today’s emerging adults may be lacking important communication skills. Cote (1996) situates emerging adulthood within cultural tensions between modern and late-modern sensibilities, observing that identity for emerging adults has become increasingly image oriented. Identity as image oriented directs emerging adults toward a process of ‘‘reflexively and strategically fitting oneself into a community of ‘strangers’ by meeting their approval through the creation of the right impressions’’ (p. 421). The idea that identity is a process warrants a subsequent link to communication—emerging adults utilize specific communicative strategies in order to manage their identity. Emerging adulthood thus becomes the training ground for navigating interpersonal relationships with family, romantic partners, friends, and potential employers. In fact, emerging adulthood may be the most important time developmentally for the establishment of positive (or negative) interpersonal communication patterns that continue throughout the life course. The articles assembled for this issue examine communication as central to emerging adulthood. These projects are methodologically diverse, highlighting the value of multiple paradigmatic perspectives. Our authors identified three major topics where communication plays a central role in identity management for emerging adults; relationships with peers, relationships with parents, and the use of technology. Communication plays a pivotal role in the establishment, management, and dissolution of interpersonal relationships in emerging adulthood. Arnett (2004) observes that for emerging adults, ‘‘the late teens and early twenties become a time for exploring their options, falling in and out of love with different people, and gaining sexual experience’’ (p. 73). Emerging adults are also navigating transitions from high school to college or the workforce, and as a result, their day-to-day interpersonal relationships are changing as well. Knight (2014) examines friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) and the communication patterns that emerge in this interpersonal context. Perhaps her most intriguing finding is that participants identified communication as work—a process of constant image management wherein individuals were positioning themselves in relationship to their partner as well as in reference to their own (and cultural) expectations about FWBRs. In a different context, Kerrick and Thorne (2014) examine relational talk within close friendships, specifically noting that identity positioning at the micro level of communication is common during emerging adulthood. What these studies indicate is that much more needs to be done on conceptualizing how communication functions interpersonally as part of social relationships and, in particular, how rich qualitative approaches to emerging adult research will enhance our understanding of communication at this life stage. Moreover, it is clear that the parent–child relationship continues to play a crucial role in emerging adulthood. The articles in this issue indicate that parents’ communication exerts an important influence on their children (e.g., Carlson,

Communicative Dilemmas in Emerging Adults’ Friends With Benefits Relationships

Friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) are a prevalent form of sexually intimate involvement among emerging adults, but research has only recently begun to develop a picture of how FWBRs are communicatively enacted. Research suggests that relational communication (i.e., communication about the nature of the relationship, expectations, and appropriate behavior) is necessary to successfully enact FWBRs but may be uncommon in practice. The current investigation employs qualitative analysis of interviews with emerging adults in an attempt to uncover the relational dynamics which pose challenges to relational talk in emerging adults’ FWBRs. Across participants’ accounts, four themes emerged with respect to communicative challenges experienced in FWBRs—(a) relational talk as (problematic) relational work, (b) relational talk as stigmatizing/face threatening, (c) expression of negative emotion as transgressive, and (d) suppression of relational talk as a maintenance strategy. Findings are considered with regard to the role of casual sexual involvement in emerging adult development.

Friendship After a Friends with Benefits Relationship: Deception, Psychological Functioning, and Social Connectedness

Friends with benefits (FWB) relationships are formed by an integration of friendship and sexual intimacy, typically without the explicit commitments characteristic of an exclusive romantic relationship. The majority of these relationships do not transition into committed romantic relationships, raising questions about what happens to the relationship after the FWB ends. In a sample of 119 men and 189 women university students, with a median age of 19 years and the majority identified as Caucasian (63.6 %), we assessed relationship adjustment, feelings of deception, perception of the FWB relationship and friendship, social connectedness, psychological distress, and loneliness. Results demonstrated that the majority of FWB relationships continued as friendships after the sexual intimacy ceased and that about 50 % of the participants reported feeling as close or closer to their FWB partner. Those who did not remain friends were more likely to report that their FWB relationship was more sex- than friendship-based; they also reported higher levels of feeling deceived by their FWB partner and higher levels of loneliness and psychological distress, but lower levels of mutual social connectedness. Higher levels of feeling deceived were related to feeling less close to the post-FWB friend; also, more sex-based FWB relationships were likely to result in post-FWB friendships that were either more or less close (as opposed to unchanged). FWB relationships, especially those that include more attention to friendship based intimacy, do not appear to negatively impact the quality of the friendship after the "with benefits" ends.

Friends with benefits or “friends” with deficits? The meaning and contexts of uncommitted sexual relationships among Mexican American and European American adolescents

Abstract Using focus groups, this study sought to understand and compare how Mexican American ( n = 41, M = 16.0 years old, SD = .96) and European American ( n = 34, M = 16.1 years old, SD = .64) youths conceptualize and experience “friends with benefits” relationships (FWBRs). Contrary to the implied nature of friendship, partners did not show caring and viewed FWBRs as a means to meet sexual needs. The “benefits” of this arrangement included guilt-free pleasure, little responsibility, the freedom to date others, or to remain available for a more desirable partner. The inherent deficits of FWBRs, on the other hand, included the potential pitfall of getting emotionally attached. Despite the recognized deficits, European American and Mexican American girls both desired and participated in FWBRs. However, Mexican American girls described more committed “going-out” relationships as ideal, which left them vulnerable to mismatched expectations and emotional upset in FWBRs. Findings outline the socio-emotional contexts of adolescent involvement in FWBRs, as well as underscore the potential for conflicting desires. Recommendations for healthy relationship and sexual health programs are discussed.

Sexual Communication, Satisfaction, and Condom Use Behavior in Friends with Benefits and Romantic Partners

Although “friends with benefits” relationships (FWBRs) are common and have been the subject of significant media and research attention, relatively little is known about them, especially in terms of how they differ from other types of relationships. The present research sought to compare the sexual outcomes of FWBRs to those of traditional romantic relationships via an online survey. Results revealed that FWBR partners were less likely to be sexually exclusive, had a lower frequency of sexual interaction, were less sexually satisfied, and generally communicated less about sex than romantic partners did. However, compared to romantic partners, FWBR partners devoted relatively more of the time spent together to sexual activity, practiced safe sex more frequently, communicated more often about extradyadic sexual experiences, and reported a greater number of lifetime casual sex partners. These findings indicate that the sexual outcomes of FWBRs and romantic relationships are quite distinct and provide evidence of the potential public health implications associated with both casual and committed sexual relationships.