Quickie: How Much Sex Does a Couple Need to Be Happy?

Summary

Research suggests that couples need not have sex more than once a week to maintain relationship satisfaction and happiness.

Abstract

According to a study by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, couples who engage in sexual activity once a week are just as happy as those who have sex more frequently. The findings, based on data from 25,000 people over 23 years, indicate that while regular intimacy is crucial for a satisfying relationship, the benefits of sex do not increase beyond a weekly occurrence. This conclusion holds true regardless of the participants' age, gender, or relationship duration, emphasizing the importance of a consistent intimate connection rather than the quantity of sexual encounters.

Opinions

Researcher Amy Muise emphasizes that maintaining an intimate connection is key, but there's no need for sex every day.
The research suggests that the societal pressure to have frequent sex may be unfounded, as happiness does not significantly increase with more than weekly sex.
Couples should communicate about their sexual frequency to ensure mutual satisfaction, without feeling pressured to exceed the once-a-week benchmark.
The study's consistency across demographics suggests that the findings are broadly applicable to a diverse range of couples.

According to research, not as much as you may think

When it comes to happiness in a relationship, clearly sex is an important factor. But how much does a couple really need to be satisfied?

“Although more frequent sex is associated with greater happiness, this link was no longer significant at a frequency of more than once a week,” said researcher Amy Muise. “Our findings suggest that it’s important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner, but you don’t need to have sex every day as long as you’re maintaining that connection.”

“It’s important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner without putting too much pressure on engaging in sex as frequently as possible.”

In order to come to this conclusion, researchers reviewed responses from 25,000 people who participated in the General Social Survey — which is a biennial survey conducted by the University of Chicago to measure opinions about various social issues — from 1989 to 2012. They found that although the 11,285 men and 14,225 women reported increased happiness in their relationships with more frequent sex, the effect did not rise further when couples had sex more than once a week. In fact, these results held true for survey respondents irrespective of age, gender, or how long they had been with their partner.

“Our findings were consistent for men and women, younger and older people, and couples who had been married for a few years or decades,” explained Muise.

Although weekly sex seems to be a sweet spot for relationship satisfaction, Muise stresses that people should not put pressure on themselves to have more sex than they want — though they should discuss with their partner whether or not their sex frequency is satisfying them both.

“It’s important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner without putting too much pressure on engaging in sex as frequently as possible,” said Muise.

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