Dec 11 2009
No Link Between Casual Sex and Mental Health Issues
One bit of pop-psychology reasoning goes like this: individuals who engage in casual sex, especially women, show they don’t respect themselves — by not holding out for a committed, loving relationship. They are engage in self-disrespectful behavior. And when you don’t respect yourself, how can you feel good about yourself, at least deep down inside (wherever that is). And when you don’t feel good about yourself, you likely have low self-esteem and are prone to mental health problems.
Many people find this reasoning compelling. To qualify as “common sense,” even. For me, it has always seemed suspect. Individuals differ in their innate social and sexual propensities. And social environments and learning experiences certainly differ.
I now have greater reason to doubt. A recent study has found that . . .
young adults engaging in casual sexual encounters do not appear to be at increased risk for harmful psychological outcomes as compared to sexually active young adults in more committed relationships. [source]
Okay, this is only one study, (though it was amply sized with over 1,000 subjects). But until I encounter another study that has found a link between casual sex and mental health problems, I’m inclined to doubt the proposition.
The news release sums up the issue nicely:
Although there has been speculation in public discourse that sexual encounters outside a committed romantic relationship may be emotionally damaging for young people, this study found no differences in the psychological well-being of young adults who had a casual sexual partner verses a more committed partner.
Personally, I find value in monogamous relationships. But not for every person in every social environment at every time in their life. And sure, while sexual cheating/infidelity and, especially, unsafe sex are clearly problematic, these are separate issues.
