Longitudinal Dyadic Associations Between Perfectionism, Emotional Intimacy, and Relationship and Sexual Satisfaction in Adult Couples

Perfectionism is a personality trait marked by excessive standards of performance and a tendency to critically evaluate oneself and others. Multidimensional perfectionism, including self-oriented perfectionism, other-oriented perfectionism, and socially-prescribed perfectionism has been linked with couple difficulties, including lower relationship and sexual satisfaction. However, most studies are cross-sectional and have overlooked the mechanisms underlying these associations. While emotional intimacy positively predicts relationship and sexual satisfaction, the interpersonal dimensions of perfectionism have been associated with greater fear of intimacy and difficulties with self-disclosure. Using a longitudinal dyadic design, this study examined the directionality of links between multidimensional perfectionism, emotional intimacy, and relationship and sexual satisfaction. A total of 308 cohabiting couples completed online questionnaires twice over one year. Results showed that a person's other-oriented perfectionism at T1 was negatively associated with their own relationship satisfaction at T2, and with their partner's relationship and sexual satisfaction at T2, via the partner's lower emotional intimacy at T2. A person's self-oriented perfectionism at T1 was positively associated with their own emotional intimacy at T2, via their higher sexual satisfaction at T2. Overall, emotional intimacy may represent a relevant interpersonal mechanism in understanding how other-oriented perfectionism relates to relationship and sexual satisfaction.