Polyamorous Relationships Research Articles

Psychometric Properties of the Attitudes Toward Polyamory Scale (ATP) in the Spanish Context

Given the potential discrimination faced by individuals in polyamorous relationships, understanding attitudes toward polyamory in society is crucial. To this end, instruments to measure attitudes toward polyamory with adequate psychometric properties are necessary. The aim of this study was to adapt the Attitudes Toward Polyamory Scale (ATP) to the Spanish context and analyze its psychometric properties in a sample of young adults. The sample comprised 1,162 individuals aged 18 to 35 years. Participants responded to sociodemographic questions and completed the Revised Sexual Opinion Survey (SOS) and the ATP. The findings indicate: (1) adequate reliability coefficients, (2) good fit statistics for the one-factor confirmatory model that verify results of exploratory factor analysis, (3) that homosexual and bisexual people have more favorable attitudes toward polyamory than heterosexual, (4) positive correlations between ATP scores, SOS scores, and political orientation (individuals with higher levels of erotophilia and a more left-leaning political orientation tend to hold more favorable attitudes toward polyamory), and (5) association between ATP scores and religion, with non-religious individuals showing more favorable attitudes toward polyamory than Catholics. In conclusion, the ATP demonstrates adequate psychometric properties in Spanish young adults.

O-170 The next generation of adolescents will consider more and more multiparenthood, poliparenthood

Abstract Although there are a variety of ways in which people navigate their intimate lives, theories of human development and intimacy often implicitly assume a preference for monogamy to be universal (Seltzer, 2000; Conley et al., 2017; Moors et al., 2017). While many people around the globe indeed engage in serial monogamy, remarkable transformations in relationship and family demography have occurred over the past several decades (Glick, 1988; Fisher, 1989; Finkel et al., 2014; Foster, 2016, in Moors et al. 2021) Studies show that 1 out of 6 people (16.8%) desire to engage in polyamory, and 1 out of 9 people (10.7%) have engaged in polyamory at some point during their life. (Moors et al 2021). Besides seeking hypotheses on the reason for this change away from the monogamous relationship form, and based on these data, we can try to make a prediction about the willingness of people to also consider parenthood in consensual non-monogamous or polyamorous relationships and thus engage in polyparenthood in the future. In the fertility centre too, we are past an era in which heterosexual infertile couples form the majority of our patient population. The need for donor material is increasing, although demand grossly exceeds supply. In addition, in many countries donor anonymity is still enshrined in law, which poses a problem for a growing number of acceptors. Many patients desire information about the donor and an increasing number of patients anticipate the perspective of the future child, which has a right to know its origins. Other patients wish the donor would also include parental involvement, and fundamentally desire the genitor to be a co-parent for their child at some point. As a result, some patients seek refuge in non-regulated open donation arrangements outside the fertility clinic. Indeed, internet websites dedicated to facilitating contact between individuals who want to meet people with the common aim of having a child are mushrooming. Such websites make elective co-parenting accessible to large numbers of people, including both singles and those with partners. Furthermore, these websites are not restricted to LGBTQ+ individuals; heterosexual men and women can also become members and contact potential reproductive partners who may be of a different sexual orientation to themselves. This could trigger a paradigm shift in the fertility clinic; is co-parenting, multi-parenting and poly-parenting the future? It could resolve problems of donor shortage, and the often difficult search for roots still faced by donor-conceived children as a consequence of donor anonimity. At Brussels IVF, we anticipated this paradigm shift and developed a procedure to counsel candidates for co-parenting. Welfare of the child is the guiding principle leading to a joint parenting project worked out together with the co-parents. This procedure and counseling topics to be addressed by the fertility centre will be presented.

Exploring Compersion: A Study on Polish Consensually Non-Monogamous Individuals and Adaptation of the COMPERSe Questionnaire

Compersion is a positive emotion experienced in relation to one’s partner’s relationship(s) with other partner(s). Experiencing it is highly desired in communities practicing consensual non-monogamy (CNM), especially polyamory. This article presents the results of a study on compersion on Polish CNM individuals. The main goal of the study was to adapt to the Polish-speaking population the COMPERSe (Classifying Our Metamour/Partner Emotional Response Scale; Flicker et al., 2021), the first standardized quantitative scale designed to measure compersion. The analyses were performed on data obtained from 211 individuals in CNM relationships and on a comparative group of 169 people in monogamous relationships. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the three-factor model of the original COMPERSe version did not fit well, leading to further revisions that resulted in a 7-item, two-factor solution with excellent fit, excellent internal consistency, strong divergent and convergent validity, and excellent test–retest stability. The CNM individuals were found to have higher scores on compersion and cognitive empathy and were also less jealous than the monogamous participants. Furthermore, polyamorous individuals experienced more compersion and less aversion to partner’s autonomy than people in open relationships. It was also revealed that compersion indirectly predicted relationship satisfaction by decreasing jealousy and that compersion was, in turn, predicted by cognitive empathy. However, when polyamorous and open relationships were analyzed separately, compersion predicted relationship satisfaction directly, but only in polyamorous relationships; meanwhile, in open relationships, satisfaction was directly predicted by cognitive empathy.

Attitudes Toward Mononormativity and Polyamorous Legal Rights in the US

IntroductionRecent research shows an increase in polyamory and acceptance of polyamorous relationships. However, there is still limited research on broader attitudes toward monogamy and polyamory, particularly regarding legal rights and with a national sample. This study examines the impact of cohort, sexual orientation, and contact with polyamorists on attitudes toward monogamy and polyamorous legal rights. This research has the potential to bring more attention to polyamorous relationships, disrupt heteronormative views of relationships, and consider legal rights for those in relationships involving more than two people.MethodsWe use data from a sample of 2665 adults from the 2021 American Marriage Survey, a national survey focused on attitudes toward marriage post-marriage equality, to consider the relationship between cohort, sexual orientation, contact, and attitudes toward mononormativity and polyamory.ResultsOverall, there is support for the idea that monogamy is the norm while people are generally not supportive of granting legal rights for polyamorous relationships. Younger cohorts, LGBQ individuals, and those who know a polyamorous person are less likely to support mononormativity and more likely to support legal rights for polyamorous relationships. Furthermore, contact has a stronger impact on attitudes of Millennials and LGBQ individuals.ConclusionWhile mononormativity remains the norm and polyamory is not widely supported, given patterns of greater acceptance among younger cohorts and LGBQ individuals, there is a good possibility that acceptance will increase over time.Policy ImplicationsThis research has the potential to bring more attention to polyamorous relationships, disrupt heteronormative views of relationships, and consider legal rights for those in relationships involving more than two people.

Ace and Poly: The Motivations and Experiences of People on the Ace Spectrum in Polyamorous Relationships

Ace and Poly: The Motivations and Experiences of People on the Ace Spectrum in Polyamorous Relationships

Personality differences between individuals involved in polyamorous and monogamous relationships

Personality differences between individuals involved in polyamorous and monogamous relationships

EFT for Three: Working with Polyamorous Relationships

This article proposes an adaptation of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples to serve nonmonogamous clients. This article also discusses the risks of failing to adapt therapeutic models to consider individuals who practice polyamory and research to date on attachment styles and polyamory. The authors suggest EFT as an efficacious approach to working with polyamorous individuals seeking therapy and provide a case illustration of a three-person polyamorous group, or triad.

Initial Motivations for Engaging in Polyamorous Relationships.

Polyamory is a relationship style in which partners consensually agree to engage in sexual and/or emotional relationships with concurrent partners. Compared with other forms of consensual non-monogamy (CNM), polyamory practitioners tend to report greater relationship satisfaction and less jealousy. However, the unique motivations leading people to engage with polyamory are less understood. Previous research has examined motivations for engaging in CNM relationship styles, in general, but no research has focused exclusively on the motivations of polyamory practitioners. The present study draws on the open-ended responses of 63 U.S. American adults who reported previous or current engagement in at least one consensually polyamorous relationship. Thematic analyses revealed four themes guiding participants' initial motivations for polyamory engagement: values alignment, relationship factors, external triggers, and sexuality. The study's themes are discussed in the context of self-determination theory and situated in the existing body of CNM and polyamory research. Directions for future research provide next steps for examining outcomes associated with specific polyamory motivations.

Family and consensual non‐monogamy: Parents' perceptions of benefits and challenges

AbstractObjectiveThis study explores the perspectives of parents in open or polyamorous relationships with regards to challenges and benefits of practicing consensual non‐monogamy (CNM).BackgroundStudies show that about one in five people, both in Canada and the United States, have been involved in a CNM relationship in their lifetime, a proportion that is even higher among today's young adults. While we know that many of those people have children, little research has focused on the experiences of parents practicing CNM.MethodThis article begins to fill this gap, drawing on 34 individual semi‐structured interviews with Canadian parents involved in CNM relationships and their partners. The author explores the benefits and challenges associated with raising children in the context of CNM, as experienced by the participants.ResultsThe vast majority of participants argued that the benefits of being polyamorous or in an open relationship considerably outweighed the difficulties they encountered. Six overarching themes emerged from the participants' discourses, namely: (1) social acceptance and legal protection, (2) coming out to children, (3) time management, (4) reconciling family obligations and personal needs, (5) it takes a village to raise children, and (6) teaching important values to children.ConclusionUltimately, this study shows that parents practicing CNM perceive their relationship model as mostly beneficial for themselves, as parents, and for their family.

Sexual Communication & Technology Use in Understudied Relationships: A Qualitative Communicative Interdependence Perspective Study

ABSTRACT This study investigated how relational distance relates to sexual communication modality for individuals (n = 415) in primarily LGBTQ, BDSM, or polyamorous relationships; and how they utilized technology to communicate about sex. Findings suggest that most people did not solely rely on a specific communication modality to communicate about sex, and 71.5% of the participants reported that they did use technology to communicate with a partner about sex. Those who did utilize technology, used it to have more difficult conversations, sexting and flirting, exploration, planning, and sharing, when distance necessitated technology use, and specific websites or mobile platforms. Implications are discussed.

Kochanek Sybilli Thompson Marii Pawlikowskiej-Jasnorzewskiej – Utopia czy dystopia?

Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska’s futurological fantasy from 1926 entitled Kochanek Sybilli Thompson (The Lover of Sybilla Thompson) seems to be a realistic social utopia. On the one hand, it reflects the spirit of the moral revolution of the interwar period and refers to the beginnings of aesthetic medicine and cosmetic treatments aimed at rejuvenation. On the other hand, it heralds – how aptly – the era of hippie free love, polyamorous relationships of the 1970s, the time of the next sexual revolution, but also the time of much more advanced plastic surgeries and cosmetic technologies. However, a careful reading of the drama allows us to see the critical (and also satirical) dimension of the story about a seventy eight-year-old woman who decided to rejuvenate herself in order to experience physical love once again. Joyful utopia becomes sad dystopia. In my article I look at this dualism: utopian – dystopian, realistic – fantastic, joyful – sad, young – old, modern – conservative, and the game of tension between oppositional concepts.

The use of emotionally focused therapy with polyamorous relationships.

Approximately 5% of people in the United States engage in some form of consensual non-monogamy (CNM; Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2018, 47, 1439). Therapists are becoming increasingly aware of the need to treat members of CNM relationships, including polyamorous relationships. To date, no research has been conducted and little has been written about applying existing couple therapy models normed on heterosexual, cisgender, monogamous relationships to CNM or polyamorous relationships. Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) is an empirically supported treatment for relationship distress that offers promise for working with polyamorous relationships due to the model's systemic and attachment theoretical foundations. We propose EFT is an ideal model for working with polyamorous relationships because of the focus on externalizing, interpersonal and intrapersonal emotional and experiential coherence, and the attachment bond. Building and sustaining multiple attachment relationships allows for the fulfilment of a diverse range of relational needs and wants as well as provides a secure base for individual and relational exploration. In this article, we first provide general information about polyamory and discuss the research on attachment theory and polyamory. We then provide a step-by-step conceptualization of how EFT therapists can expand the model to include extra-dyadic attachment relationships. In addition, we include specific ways in which the model would need to be adapted when working with polyamorous clients. We conclude with recommendations for EFT therapists working with polyamorous relationships.

Polyfidelity Experiences, Loyalty Issues, and Triangulation Among Gay-male Couples

<p>本研究採用質性研究的敘說分析方法，透過伴侶觀點以及結構家族治療的視框，探討男同志在多重伴侶關係中之內涵。本研究以半結構式方法訪談一組男同志伴侶共三人，其多重伴侶關係經驗為六年。研究者依據個別及共同訪談的資料，呈現男同志在多重伴侶關係中個人的知覺與經驗，並整合三方資料編織出不同伴侶間的互動模式；主要研究結果發現如下：（1）本組男同志多重伴侶關係之內涵為「三人承諾彼此為伴侶，且情感與性關係是封閉在三人之間」，與先前西方學者進一步分類多重伴侶關係中的「複數忠誠」關係較為相似；（2）本組受訪男同志伴侶以「協商進入三人關係」來面對「精神出軌」事件，與過往異性戀研究中伴侶面對出軌事件的態度、方法較為不同；（3）本研究認為本組男同志複數忠誠關係的開展、維持，以及最後關係結束都與三角關係、忠誠議題有關；（4）本組男同志伴侶的界線始於模糊最後疏離，進而造成伴侶們情緒起伏、影響伴侶面對挑戰的能力。最後，根據以上研究結果提出對伴侶諮商實務工作的建議，以供後續相關人員作為參考。</p> <p> </p><p>Polyamorous relationships and other consensual non-monogamous relationships (CNM) have received more attention and interest from both scholars and popular communities in Western countries for more than 20 years. Contrarily, these have been underdiscussed in Taiwan. CNM relationships were mostly invisible in Taiwan; if mentioned, they were often solely connected to negative labels and stigmas. Only a handful of studies in Taiwan mention CNM relationships; fewer targeted polyamorous relationships and CNM relationships as the topic of their research and study. </p> <p>According to previous empirical studies in the U.S., polyamory and other CNM relationships are more common in gay-male communities. Although no empirical study has been conducted in Taiwan to estimate the population of CNM practitioners, comparatively more studies targeting gay-male relationships in Taiwan found some types of CNM relationships in their research. It is theorized that because gay-male individuals find themselves not fitting the heterosexual relationship norm, they have the opportunity to build their relationships from scratch. Because homosexual individuals have more opportunities to process and ponder what constitutes a relationship, it is easier for them to step out of monogamous norms and build their relationships differently. Considering the difficulty of recruiting polyamorous couples in Taiwan, the present study targeted gay-male couples as the participants of this study.</p> <p>Aiming to understand how gay couples build and sustain polyamorous relationships and their living experiences, the research question of this study was: What are the interaction patterns and dynamics among gaymale couples’ polyamorous relationships? </p> <p>Polyamorous relationships often involve more than two people, and the dynamics and interactions could be complicated and intricate. To better understand the dynamics of the relationships and interactions between couples, the present study utilized the Structural Family Therapy framework as a theoretical lens. </p> <p>To uncover the mystery of this often-neglected and stigmatized relationship and provide luminance and clarity to Taiwanese scholar and popular community, this qualitative research was conducted through narrative approach aiming to analyze the interaction patterns and relationship dynamics of polyamorous relationships among gay couples. A polyamorous couple, consisting of three participants aged 32-35 years, were recruited. Their polyamorous relationship lasted for six years but ended during the study. The present study used semi-structured interviews to collect data; joint interviews were conducted with couple participants, and individual interviews were followed up to collect individual views from each participant. However, only two of the three participants were interviewed individually because of their breakup.</p> <p>From the interviews conducted, the following conclusions were drawn. (1) The present gay-male participants agreed not to seek romantic or sexual connections outside of their established relationship structure. Their polyamorous relationships became "closed" and all members engaged in "polyfidelity" relationship. (2) Unlike most heterosexual couples in previous studies, the present gay-male couple negotiated and stepped into a polyamorous relationship to deal with their cheating issues. (3) The researchers believe the reason this polyfidelity relationship started and ended ,according to a systemic perspective and structural family therapy lens, was related to triangulation and loyalty issues. The ways in which triangulation and loyalty issues were maintained and ended the relationships were discussed. (4) The boundaries between these gay-male participants were either diffused or rigid and their relationships were both enmeshed and disengaged. Researchers believe that these boundary issues may raise negative emotions, such as jealousy between couples, and compromise couples’ ability to deal with couple-hood challenges. </p> <p>Finally, resources and suggestions are presented for mental health, marriage, and family professionals.</p> <p> </p>

Blonde (2022)

Blonde (2022)

The polyamorous threat to nonmarriage

AbstractSome progressive U.S. Cities and several Canadian provinces now provide mechanisms for polyamorous families to register as such with state authorities. More than a million people in the United States identify as polyamorous and many more practice some form of ethical nonmonogamy. This article suggests that the growing recognition of polyamory poses a substantial threat to a simultaneous development in family law: the call by scholars and the Uniform Law Commission for courts to enforce a more implied contract, implied partnership and equitable claims in the context of non‐marital conjugal cohabitation. Non‐marital cohabitants argue that courts can infer marital‐type commitments to share property from the fact of conjugal cohabitation. They argue that their nonmarriage should entitle them to the kinds of relief afforded to divorcing couples. But polyamorous conjugal cohabitation involves very different norms and commitments to reliance, partnership and transparency than does traditional marriage. Marital‐type relief maps awkwardly, if at all, onto the reality of most polyamorous relationships. By bringing into relief that which we cannot necessarily assume about conjugal cohabitation, the recognition of polyamory questions what many proponents of more legal protection of nonmarital couples ask courts to assume about conjugal cohabitation, namely that it gives rise to reasonable reliance on a status quo and an intent to share property. Moreover, by providing a means for polyamorous households to register their relationships, polyamorous registration normalizes the idea of non‐marital relationship registration. The more normal and expected it is for people who want rights as some form of family to register their familial intent with the state, the harder it is for those who have not so registered to argue that the state must treat them as some sort of family.

Challenging the Love Triangle in Twenty-First-Century Fantastic Young Adult Literature

From Stephenie Meyers’ <em>Twilight</em> (2005-2008) to Suzanne Collins’ <em>The Hunger Games</em> (2008-2010), the love triangle is a controversial but pervasive feature of 21st-century fantastic YA literature. The setup and outcome rarely vary: a female protagonist must risk souring friendships to make a final choice between two eligible boys, inevitably disappointing the alternative suitor and the readers who favoured him. Drawing on theories of triangular desire and reader-response theory, this article considers the factors governing fantastic YA’s continuing use of the love triangle, its adherence to the final choice, and the barriers to alternative polyamorous outcomes which can offer continuity to friendships. Considering YA’s readers, writers, and market, this article argues that this resistance results from general anxiety about polyamory’s effect on the characters’ desirability from the reader’s perspective, and society’s particular aversion to male bisexuality. Meanwhile, constraints on writers include the logistical effort and page space required to develop a satisfying polyamorous relationship. Facilitated through a discussion of two of the few polyamorous triangles in mainstream YA fantasy and science fiction, found in Malinda Lo’s <em>Adaptation</em> series (2012-2013) and Tessa Gratton’s <em>Strange Grace</em> (2018), this article proposes that if popular negative perceptions of polyamory can be overcome, its inclusion can provide freeing possibilities for both readers and the genre itself.

The ‘hard work’ of polyamory: ethnographic accounts of intimacy and difference in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT The subversive potential of nonmonogamous relationships to provide nonpossessive and meaningful modes of bonding beyond heteropatriarchal monogamous relationships has been a concern of feminist scholarship and activism for more than a century. Focusing on polyamory in the Netherlands, this paper aims to contribute to this scholarship by putting power relations at the centre of analysis. Ethnographic participant observation and in-depth interviews with people in polyamorous relationships show that their experiences of polyamory as emotionally, ethically, and subjectively hard work are deeply entangled with gender, age, class, and racial difference, which is understood as both fluid and as emerging in social contexts. This entanglement of hard work and difference is identified and investigated in three areas: resisting stigmatization, negotiating autonomy and commitment, and managing jealousy. It is argued that although polyamory’s appeal to ethical plurality offers possibilities for resisting heteropatriarchal forces in society, its simultaneous reliance on an individualistic therapeutic discourse undermines those very possibilities for resistance, serving an apolitical late-capitalist demand for self-management and -improvement.

Swedish poly utopia: Dreams, revolutions, and crushed hopes

Polyamory means having a sexual and/or intimate relationship with more than one person at a time. In this study, we use in-depth interviews with 22 persons in Sweden who have experience of polyamorous or non-monogamous relationships to explore how polyamory can include imagining utopian relationships and spaces. Thematic analysis was done which indicated narratives of politically invested attempts to create communal living or societal change that resists capitalist and heteronormative nuclear-family arrangements as well as stories of everyday events that do not explicitly involve political ambitions. The range of utopian dreams and practices of the non-monogamous participants in our study, we argue, are examples of what Muñoz calls concrete utopias, filled with joy and laden with disappointment in the face of potentiality and reality.

Model of motivations for engaging in polyamorous relationships

Polyamory is a form of consensual non-monogamy (CNM) based on the belief that people can participate in and build multiple romantic and/or sexual relationships with the consent of all involved. This form of CNM relationship is increasingly visible in societies where monogamy is a prevalent norm. Research in the field of polyamory has yielded many findings regarding the multiple relational benefits of polyamory. However, there is a limited number of studies in the literature focusing specifically on why some people find polyamory more appealing than an exclusive, dyadic partner relationship. Therefore, framed within the historical context in which polyamory emerged and the associated stigmatization, this study presents a model of the psychological motivations for considering/engaging in/remaining in a polyamorous relationship in an era when monogamy and the binary nature of intimate and sexual relationships is being deconstructed. The study is based on a secondary theoretical analysis of recent psychological studies on polyamory, discussed in light of the relevant psychological theories of motivation. The result is an 8-component model of diverse potential polyamory motivations, individually or in aggregate. The motivations were organized into eight domains: fulfilment of needs not met in a monogamous relationship; personal growth and autonomy; identity development and polyamory; expression of political values; exploring minority identities (sexual fluidity and bisexuality); need to belong to a community; desire for sexual diversity; and psychodynamic reasons. This study also shows there may be diversified need of psychotherapeutic approaches for polyamorous individuals.

Understanding polyamory as a form of concurrency to enhance HIV programmes in South Africa: The need to re-conceptualize the partner reduction policy

A conceptual framework derived from three inter-related theories of social cognitive theory, constructivism and the meaning-making model, was used to investigate the group of relations between polyamorous relationships, safer sex practices and HIV. Using purposive sampling seven participants who were in polyamorist relationships in three provinces in South Africa: Gauteng, Cape Town and Northern Cape were interviewed to collect data. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed as the data analysis method. The findings of this study revealed that many of the participants who were involved in polyamorous relationships were concerned about their health and well-being. Therefore, in most of these relationships, the participants required of their secondary partners to disclose their HIV status and also test for STDs. Also, in all of the participants’ polyamorous relationships there were sexual rules and agreements that were set up in order to limit exposure to HIV. Furthermore, high level of communication strategies was employed to improve honesty and trust among all of the partners involved. The coping strategies that were adopted by all of these participants in order to deal with familial and societal rejection of their involvement in concurrency included forming psycho-social support networks. These findings show that there is a need to re-conceptualize the partner reduction policy in order to accommodate the perspectives and needs of people who are involved in concurrent partnerships. Further, social work is called upon to be aware and sensitive to polyamorous relationship in both education and practice.