Abstract Introduction Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (SIAD)-a highly prevalent sexual dysfunction-is characterized by lower sexual desire, higher sexual distress, and lower sexual satisfaction, both in individuals with SIAD and their partners (Rosen et al., 2019). Growing evidence emphasizes the interpersonal nature of sexual difficulties, with the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Model of women’s sexual dysfunction suggesting that how couples regulate emotions plays a central role in shaping both partners’ sexual outcomes (Rosen & Bergeron, 2019). Adaptive regulation strategies such as emotional acceptance may foster sexual well-being, whereas less adaptive strategies such as suppression may undermine it. Although limited, existing research indicates that individuals with SIAD report greater emotion regulation difficulties than those without the disorder (Sarin et al., 2016), and that these difficulties are associated with poorer sexual outcomes for both partners (Dubé et al., 2019). However, most prior studies have been cross-sectional and assessed general rather than sexuality-specific emotion regulation, limiting our understanding of how emotion regulation strategies operate in the context of sexual activity to shape sexual desire, distress, and satisfaction among couple facing SIAD-insights that are critical for developing more targeted interventions. Objective The current study examined whether daily fluctuations in use of emotion regulation strategies (acceptance, suppression) in sexual contexts were associated with fluctuations in sexual adjustment (desire, distress, satisfaction) among couples coping with SIAD. Methods Participants were 199 diverse couples in which self-identified women or female-bodied people were diagnosed with SIAD via structured clinical interview. Using a dyadic daily diary design, participants completed online measures of sexuality-specific emotion regulation strategies (acceptance, suppression) and sexual outcomes (desire, distress, satisfaction) over 56 consecutive days. Guided by the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model framework, multilevel models tested whether daily changes from a participant’s own mean on emotion regulation variables were associated with changes in their own and their partner’s sexual outcomes. Because predictors were only collected on days where couples reported partnered sexual activity, analyses were restricted to those days. Results On days of partnered sexual activity, emotional acceptance was associated with better sexual outcomes. When individuals with SIAD reported greater-than-usual acceptance of their sexual emotions, they reported greater sexual desire, lower sexual distress, and greater sexual satisfaction, and their partners reported lower distress and greater satisfaction. When partners reported greater acceptance, they reported greater desire, lower distress and greater satisfaction, and the individuals with SIAD reported greater desire and satisfaction. Conversely, emotional suppression was consistently linked to poorer sexual outcomes. On days when individuals with SIAD reported greater-than-usual suppression, they reported lower desire, greater distress, and lower satisfaction, and their partners reported greater distress and lower satisfaction on these days. Similarly, when partners reported greater suppression, they themselves reported greater distress. Conclusions These findings underscore the interpersonal nature of SIAD, showing that couples’ emotion regulation strategies in sexual contexts shape both partners’ sexual health. Emotional acceptance fosters desire, satisfaction, and lower distress for both partners, whereas suppression amplifies difficulties. Results highlight the value of targeting sexuality-specific emotion regulation strategies in sex therapy for SIAD, as it may support both individual and relational sexual outcomes. Disclosure No
Hamel et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: