The phenomenon of nurestricted sexual behavior in modern society: pathological culture tendency or personality pathology?

• Main Authors: Konina M.A., Kholmogorova A.B., Sorokova M.G.
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Moscow State University of Psychology and Education 2014-04-01
• Series: Консультативная психология и психотерапия
• Subjects: unrestricted sexual behavior (promiscuity); culture of sexual behavior; trends of modern culture; socio-sexual strategy; Sociosexual Orientation Inventory; personality pathology; borderline personality disorder; dysfunctional beliefs; impulsive behavior; dependence; factor analysis; correlation analysis
• Online Access: http://psyjournals.ru/en/mpj/2014/n2/72416.shtml
• ISSN: 2075-3470; 2311-9446

The aim of this work was to study unrestricted sexual behavior (promiscuity) as a phenomenon of modern Russian culture and as one of the characteristics of personality pathology. The research was aimed at discovering the link between traits of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and indicators of unrestricted sexual behavior. An anonymous survey was organized on a special website, and we examined 492 people using the following methods: Sociosexual Orientation Inventory by L. Penke (SOI-R) and the scale of dys functional beliefs with BPD by A. Butler (PBQ-BPD). The SOI-R method was used for the first time for a Russian sample. The data of the factor analysis fully confirmed its traditional structure. The Russian version of the PBQ-BPD method was tested previously (Maximov, Kholmogorova, 2011), this study has confirmed its factorial structure, and there is data of the factor analysis. Among the respondents, 24% had more than three partners per year, 17,5% had more than 10 "one night stand" partners, 50% agreed with the statement that "sex without love is fine." The analysis showed that 16,7% of the sample show promiscuous behavior (5 or more sexual partners per year), which is close to the level of European countries. Contrary to initial expectations, it was found that the percentage of persons with BPD among people that meet the criteria for unrestricted sexual behavior does not exceed the general population (2%), which may indicate the leading role of cultural trends in the phenomenon of unrestricted sexual behavior as a trend to normalize it. It was found that two factors characterizing BPD — dependency factor (reflecting fears of abandonment and helplessness) and protection factor (reflecting the tendency to impulsivity) — are connected in opposite ways with different factors of unrestricted sexual behavior: expressed dependence reduces promiscuity and expressed impulsivity increases it?