TY - JOUR
T1 - Willingness to Engage in Consensual Nonmonogamy Among Emerging Adults
T2 - A Structural Equation Analysis of Sexual Identity, Casual Sex Attitudes, and Gender
AU - Sizemore, Kayla M.
AU - Olmstead, Spencer B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.
PY - 2017/11/22
Y1 - 2017/11/22
N2 - Research on consensual nonmonogamy (CNM) has increased over the past decade. However, willingness to engage in CNM is an understudied phenomenon within this body of literature. Little research has examined the correlates of this aspect of CNM or focused on individuals in the developmental period of emerging adulthood. This study used multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a conceptual model of emerging adults’ (ages 18 to 29; N = 890) willingness to engage in CNM. Results indicated that emerging adult experimentation/possibilities, sexual identity exploration, and permissive attitudes toward casual sex were all related to willingness to engage in CNM. Results also showed that the pathway from emerging adult experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM was differentially mediated across gender. Specifically, for women there was an indirect (and positive) pathway from experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM through sexual identity exploration. For men there was an indirect (and positive) pathway from experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM through permissive attitudes toward casual sex. Implications for future studies on CNM among emerging adults are discussed.
AB - Research on consensual nonmonogamy (CNM) has increased over the past decade. However, willingness to engage in CNM is an understudied phenomenon within this body of literature. Little research has examined the correlates of this aspect of CNM or focused on individuals in the developmental period of emerging adulthood. This study used multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a conceptual model of emerging adults’ (ages 18 to 29; N = 890) willingness to engage in CNM. Results indicated that emerging adult experimentation/possibilities, sexual identity exploration, and permissive attitudes toward casual sex were all related to willingness to engage in CNM. Results also showed that the pathway from emerging adult experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM was differentially mediated across gender. Specifically, for women there was an indirect (and positive) pathway from experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM through sexual identity exploration. For men there was an indirect (and positive) pathway from experimentation/possibilities to willingness to engage in CNM through permissive attitudes toward casual sex. Implications for future studies on CNM among emerging adults are discussed.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84996598575
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84996598575&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00224499.2016.1243200
DO - 10.1080/00224499.2016.1243200
M3 - Article
C2 - 27869564
SN - 0022-4499
VL - 54
SP - 1106
EP - 1117
JO - Journal of sex research
JF - Journal of sex research
IS - 9
ER -