A Word to our Participants

The Relationships and Sexual Behaviour Study  

Dear participants,

I would like to extend a warm thank you for your contribution to this research project, which is the first New Zealand study to look at ‘out-of-control sexual behaviour’ (OOCSB) and attachment. OOCSB, often given the layperson’s term ‘sexual addiction,’ more accurately involves a range of experiences including impulsive or compulsive sexual thoughts/feelings/or behaviours, which cause distress or impairment to the individual or others close to them. There are lots of factors that are thought to play a role in OOCSB, and more recently attachment has been identified as one such factor. Attachment is the way that relationships with caregivers early in life shape feelings and behaviour towards intimacy and closeness in adult relationships.

The previous few studies on OOCSB and attachment have found that those with OOCSB report higher anxiety towards and avoidance of closeness in their adult relationships compared to those without OOCSB. Previous research has also found higher levels of anxiety, depression, and substance use amongst people with OOCSB. The study you took part in primarily aimed to explore the link between OOCSB and attachment in a New Zealand sample.

Between May and July 2010, you completed the online “Relationships and Sexual Behaviour Questionnaire”.  This was a 136-item survey that asked about sexual behaviour (OOCSB), close adult relationships (attachment), anxiety, depression, and substance use. You were among 885 participants who completed the survey. Unfortunately, 264 participants could not be included because they either did not live in New Zealand or had left out important parts of the survey.  The 621 remaining participants ranged in age from 18 to 77 years (the average age was 35.72 years) and there were 386 men, 233 women, and 2 transgendered people. Most participants were European (84%) but there were participants of many other ethnicities in the sample. Most were heterosexual (77%) but some were bisexual (17%) or homosexual (5%). The majority were in a relationship that was over one year in length (80%).

The responses to the questions about sexual behaviour were used to separate participants into groups based on those who reported a relatively smaller number of problem sexual behaviours (non-OOCSB group = 214) and those who reported a relatively larger number of such behaviours (OOCSB group = 407). The two groups were compared in their responses to questions about attachment, anxiety, depression, and substance use. The groups were similar in age, ethnicity, relationship status, and relationship length, but the OOCSB group included more men, more bisexual respondents, and had a higher average age (37.10 years).  

Key findings:The OOCSB group were different than the non-OOCSB group in the kinds of sexual behaviour they reported. Key differences included that many more people in the OOCSB than non-OOCSB group reported trying to stop certain kinds of sexual behaviour, neglecting important parts of their life because of spending too much time on sexual behaviour, and that the behaviour had created problems for them and/or their family.The OOCSB group also reported higher rates of insecure adult attachment styles that involve viewing closeness and relationships as threatening, and feeling either anxiety towards or avoidance of closeness. In contrast, the non-OOCSB group reported higher rates of secure adult attachment styles, involving a perspective of relationships as safe, partners as trustworthy, and closeness with another person as desirable and rewarding. The same pattern was found when comparing those with higher and lower levels of OOCSB. These findings were stronger for women than men on certain types of insecure attachment, suggesting that women with OOCSB tend to have higher levels of insecure attachment than men, but more research needs to investigate this further. There could be other explanations for this finding, such as gender differences in self-disclosure of feelings about relationships.   

Secondary findings:As expected, the OOCSB group reported more features of depression than the non-OOCSB group. This is consistent with previous research and supports the idea that people with OOCSB often have difficulties with managing negative feelings. Unexpectedly, the non-OOCSB group reported more features of anxiety than the OOCSB group, which contrasted with previous research that anxiety is higher in those with OOCSB. This may have been due to the fact that there were more men in the OOCSB group while the non-OOCSB had similar proportions of men and women. Anxiety is typically less common for men than women, which may have meant that the OOCSB group, as a whole, had lower features of anxiety.  Substance use was not different between the groups except that more of the OOCSB group reported that they use sedatives. However, the survey did not formally assess substance use problems, so this information is limited and inconclusive and requires further investigation.  

SummaryThis study found that those with OOCSB often have higher avoidance or anxiety towards closeness in their adult romantic relationships, and that experiences of such relationships as safe and desirable may be important in healthy sexual relating. Although the study was limited because it relied on self-report and a non-representative sample of participants, it is the first New Zealand study to demonstrate the potentially important relationship between OOCSB and attachment. It is recommended that attachment styles are considered in the treatment of OOCSB and further research will evaluate whether this type of treatment can reduce OOCSB. Thank you once again to all participants of this study; your time and responses are greatly appreciated. For any research-related questions, please contact the researcher at K.Faisandier@massey.ac.nz

Warm regards from the research and supervision team

Karen Faisandier, Dr Jo Taylor, and Robyn Salisbury.