More intimacy may actually leads to a decline in wanting and enjoyment of romance, a study by Carnegie Mellon University proved.
Instead of focusing on increasing sexual frequency, couples may want to work on creating an environment that sparks their desire and makes the sex that they do have even more fun,’ explained research scientist Tamar Krishnamurti from CMU’s department of engineering and public policy.
To examine this, the researchers have examined casual connection between sexual frequency and happiness in 128 couples. They experimentally assigned them to have more romance than others. They observed both group’s happiness over a three-month period. The couples instructed to increase sexual frequency did have more romance. However, it did not lead to increased, but instead to a small decrease, in happiness.
Later researchers instructed to have more romance reported lower sexual desire and a decrease in sexual enjoyment. It was not that actually having more romance led to decreased wanting and liking for romance. ‘Instead, it seemed to be just the fact that they were asked to do it, rather than initiating on their own,’ Krishnamurti noted.
Analysing the results, the researchers stated that most couples have too little romance for their own good and thinks that increasing sexual frequency in the right ways can be beneficial. ‘The findings may actually help couples to improve their romancelives and their happiness,’ Krishnamurti pointed out. ‘If we ran the study again, we would try to encourage subjects into initiating more romance in ways that put them in a sexy frame of mind rather than directing them to do so,’ added George Loewenstein, the study’s lead investigator.
The study was published in the Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation.
By Lizitha
