Sexual disagreements in relationships are more strongly associated with women considering ending their relationships than men, according to a new study published in the Journal of Sex Research. This finding, emerging from an analysis of thousands of participants, challenges traditional notions about the impact of sexual harmony on relationship stability.

The study was spurred by a gap in existing research, which primarily focused on the link between sexual satisfaction and relationship stability but seldom delved into how sexual disagreements might lead to instability. Surprisingly, despite the common occurrence of sexual conflicts and their association with reduced relationship satisfaction, this aspect has received little attention.

“Based on traditional gender ideologies, we would expect that sexual disagreements are associated with relationship instability more strongly among men than among women,” said study author Dominika Perdoch Sladká, a researcher and a PhD student at the Department of Sociology at Masaryk University.