Sexual Passion in Committed Relationships: Measurement and Conceptual Issues

• Author: Nathan D. Leonhardt,Hsin‐Yao Chiu,Dean M. Busby,Emilie Iliff
• Date: 01 September 2019
• Published date: 01 September 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12385

Sexual Passion in Committed Relationships:

Measurement and Conceptual Issues

DEAN M. BUSBY*

HSIN-YAO CHIU

†

NATHAN D. LEONHARDT*

EMILIE ILIFF*

The purpose of this study is to discuss the need for a new triadic model of sexual passion

in relationships and to present the preliminary psychometric properties of a scale designed

to measure these three approaches to passion (harmonious, obsessive, and inhibited) for

use in clinical and scholarly work. Existing theory and measures of general passion are

based on a dualistic model of passion that includes the harmonious and obsessive

approaches to passion. We added the inhibited approach to passion from the sexuality

research and develop measures for assessing sexual passion in relationships. We utilized

an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample of 1,421 individuals in committed relationships to

test this measure. Reliability analyses and confirmatory factory analyses evinced that these

three approaches to sexual passion were unique constructs and distinct from sexual satis-

faction. Sexual passion showed predictive validity above and beyond relationship length,

sexual desire toward a partner, and a broader variable of sexual drive. Harmonious sexual

passion robustly predicted higher sexual satisfaction and relationship sat isfaction, and

inhibited sexual passion moderately predicted lower sexual satisfaction and relationship

satisfaction. Obsessive sexual passion had minimal associations with either outcome.

These new constructs, especially harmonious and inhibited sexual passion, may help schol-

ars and practitioners improve their understanding of sexual satisfaction and overall rela-

tionship satisfaction.

Keywords: Passion; Sexuality; Couples; Relationship Satisfaction

Fam Proc 58:734–748, 2019

Understanding how healthy sexuality develops and is maintained in couple relation-

ships is a goal shared by scholars and applied professionals (Gossman et al., 2003).

Those who are able to sustain sexual quality in their relationship may have a particular

passion and investment in sexuality from the beginning. In this study we attempt to

advance the study of sexuality in couple relationships by bridging the research on general

passion (Vallerand, 2015), the theoretical work on passion in couple relationships in the

couple therapy literature (Schnarch, 1991), and the research on sexual inhibition and exci-

tation (Bancroft et al., 2009). We do this by developing the Triadic Model of Sexual Pas-

sion in Relationships, through newly developed measures of harmonious, obsessive, and

inhibited sexual passion. We explore the validity of our measures by showing their distinc-

tion from measures for sexual drive and sexual desire, and also show their uniqu e

*School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

†

Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dean M. Busby, School of Family Life,

Brigham Young University, 2092-D JFSB, Provo, UT 84602. E-mail: dean_busby@byu.edu.

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Family Process, Vol. 58, No. 3, 2019 ©2018 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12385