Culture and Sexual Self-Disclosure in Intimate Relationships

• Main Authors: Nu Tang, Lisamarie Bensman, Elaine Hatfield
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PsychOpen 2013-12-01
• Series: Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
• Subjects: culture; sexual self-disclosure; self-disclosure; sexual communication
• Online Access: http://ijpr.psychopen.eu/article/view/141

Sexual self-disclosure is one of the most intimate forms of self-disclosure. Yet, there is surprisingly little research on this topic compared to the voluminous research that exists on self-disclosure (in general). This is particularly surprising since sexual self-disclosure has been found to be correlated with sexual and marital satisfaction (Byers & Demmons, 2010). Conversations about sex have also been found to be critical in preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, expressing sexual consent, and sexual desires and satisfaction (Faulkner & Lannutti, 2010). Nor have scholars investigated the impact of culture on people’s willingness to engage in sexual self-disclosure. In this paper, we will review current theorizing as to the extent to which culture and gender might be expected to influence young people’s willingness to sexually self-disclose, and suggest possible directions that future research might take.