Female Sexual Desire, Response, and Behavior

This study explores sexual desire, response, and behavior in satisfied versus dissatisfied marriages as perceived by women, while controlling for female sexual satisfaction. Seventy-eight married couples participated in a structured interview and a series of open-ended interviews designed to gather behavioral self-report sexual data. The study had three objectives. First, the association between sexual desire and frequency of sex for both husbands and wives was examined. Second, a typology for female sexual response was developed based on the wives' self-report description of their sexual activities. Five types of sexual responses were identified in these sexual activities through cluster analysis; there were significant differences in how the wives responded to sex between groups. Third, sexual behaviors experienced during the reported sexual activities were assessed in open-ended interviews. Significant differences were found between the groups of marriages in sexual activities. These differences in sexual behavior with women in satisfied and dissatisfied marriages are explored.