Sex motivated by love and commitment most satisfying, finds study

Washington, Nov 11 (ANI): A new study has suggested that those who seek sexual satisfaction should stop and examine why they are having sex in the first place.

Research has shown that both men and women are more satisfied when having sex out of love and commitment, rather than for material gain or to achieve success, Discovery News reported.

In this study, researchers used a sample of 544 sexually active male and female undergraduates, and found that there are slight differences in sexual satisfaction between men and women.

About 90 percent of the respondents were heterosexual, and they answered survey questions on their sexual satisfaction and their motivations for having sex.

A diverse list of possible reasons for sex was listed, including arousal, expression, revenge, stress reduction, social status, self-esteem, orgasm, to burn calories, try out new techniques, love and commitment.

Love and commitment came out to be the strongest correlated motive to sexual satisfaction for both men and women, while having sex for self-esteem or for resources (for example, to get a job or to get drugs) was linked with lower satisfaction.

For women, having sex for pleasure and for expression were linked to higher sexual satisfaction, but having sex to seek a new experience was linked to lower sexual satisfaction.

The researchers report that since their sample was non-clinical, sexual satisfaction skewed higher than it would in a representative population.

The findings have been published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. (ANI)