Emotional intimacy is believed to play a critical role in the long term maintenance of sexual desire among partners in romantic relationships. However, there is no scientific proof that sexual contact has a significant impact on intimacy. Empirical studies indicate that there is a significant correlation between emotional intimacy and sexual desires. The correlation between emotional intimacy and sexual desire is greater in men than in women. Besides, many authors acknowledge that emotional intimacy greatly drives partners in a relationship into an increased sexual desire, and subsequently make them engage in sexual activities for a longer duration. Overall, stronger sexual desires prolong partnered sexual activities across the genders because the involved parties continuously feel the urge to remain in sexual contact now and then.
Sources
Bronya, H. K., & Alice, Y. L. (2019). Sexual satisfaction, intimacy, and the relationship of couples undergoing infertility treatment: Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 37 (2), 108-122, DOI: 10.1080/02646838.2018.1529407
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This is a unique article of this research, as it majors on how infertility affects the level of sexual satisfaction and intimacy. The authors argue that infertility alters the couple's well-being, and subsequently pose a negative impact on their level of intimacy. Also, it stands out that infertile couples are often under pressure during sexual activities. This increased pressure leads to sexual dissatisfaction during sexual activities and may often lead to separation. Besides, the authors found out that women experience higher infertility pressure than men during sexual activities.
Ferreira, L.C., Narciso, I., Novo, R. (2012). Intimacy, Sexual Desire, and Differentiation in Couplehood: A Theoretical and Methodological Review: Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy , 38 (3), 263-80.
This article investigates the relationship between sexual desire, intimacy, and differentiation in sexual partnerships. According to this article, sexual relations significantly increase intimacy while slightly decreasing sexual desires. This implies that as couples continue to stay longer and longer in sexual relationships, their intimacy becomes stronger, but their desire to engage in sexual activities decreases.
Garcia, R., Gesselman, N., Massey, G., & Seibold-Simpson, M. (2018). Intimacy Through Casual Sex: Relational Context of Sexual Activity and Affectionate Behaviors, 9(2018), e12. Retrieved November 11, 2019, from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-relationships-research/article/intimacy-through-casual-sex-relational-context-of-sexual-activity-and-affectionate-behaviours/359BA171B24DEE13F0C032B581CC31AD
According to this article, affectionate behaviors drive partners into romantic relationships by nature. Thus, both men and women often engage in affectionate behaviors during their casual sexual encounters (Garcia et al., 2018). Moreover, affectionate behaviors are found to have a great influence of partners to engage in sexual activities.
Lankveld, J.V., Jacobs, N., Thewissen, V., Dewitte, M., & Peter, V. (2018). The associations of intimacy and sexuality in daily life: Temporal dynamics and gender effects within romantic relationships: Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 35 (4), 557–576.
This research article is designed to investigate the relationship between intimacy, sexual desires, and the duration of sexual activities. The authors establish that most people remain in sexual contact because of their great feelings of affection towards their sexual partners. It is also evidence from this research that men experience a stronger sexual desire than women. This may be used to explain why men are quick to approach women for sexual activities.
Rodrigue, C., Blais, M., Lavoie, F., Adam, D., Goyer, M.F., & Magontier, C. (2017). Passion, Intimacy, and Commitment in Casual Sexual Relationships in a Canadian Sample of Emerging Adults: The Journal of Sex Research , 55 (9), 1192-1205.
In this article, Rodrique et al. (2017) compare the casual sexual relationships on intimacy, commitment, and passion. These factors of comparison form the three components of sexual relations as presented by Sternberg's triangular theory of love (Rodrique et al., 2017). According to the findings of this research, the three components have varying degrees of effect on sexual relationships. For instance, passion ranks the highest, followed by intimacy, and finally, commitment (Rodrique et al., 2017). Besides, the authors conclude that there is a significant relationship between the level of passion, intimacy, and commitment, and casual sexual relationships.
