Health & Medicine
Want a Better Sex Life and a Lasting Relationship? Watch Your Contraceptive
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: May 14, 2014 12:49 PM EDT
Want to have a better sex life and a more lasting relationship? Then take a look at what type of contraceptive you're using. Researchers have found that the changes in hormonal contraceptive use can influence a woman's love life.
In order to examine how contraceptives might influence relationships, the researchers looked at a sample of 365 couples. They then investigated how satisfaction levels in both sexual and non-sexual aspects of their relationship were influenced by the use of hormonal contraceptive.
"Our findings showed women who had met their partner while taking the pill and were still currently taking it-as well as those who had never used the pill at any point-reported greater sexual satisfaction than those women who had begun or stopped using the pill during the course of the relationship," said Craig Roberts, one of the researchers, in a news release. "In other words, the congruence of women's pill us throughout the relationship had a greater influence on sexual satisfaction levels than either simply being on the pill or not being on the pill."
That said, there was no difference in the non-sexual aspects of relationship satisfaction between the different groups of women. In addition, the use of contraception made no difference on the male partner.
"Previous research has shown that hormonal contraceptives, such as the pill, subtly alter women's ideal partner preferences and that often women who are using the pill when they meet their partner find the same partner less physically attractive when they come off the pill," said Roberts in a news release. "Our new results support these earlier finds but, crucially, they also point to the impact a change in hormonal contraceptive use during a relationship-either starting or stopping-can have on a woman's sexual satisfaction with her partner."
The findings reveal how the pill can impact a woman's relationship-even if it is subtly. It seems that what's important is whether a woman's current use matches her use when she began the relationship with her partner.
The findings are published in the journal Psychological Science.
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First Posted: May 14, 2014 12:49 PM EDT
Want to have a better sex life and a more lasting relationship? Then take a look at what type of contraceptive you're using. Researchers have found that the changes in hormonal contraceptive use can influence a woman's love life.
In order to examine how contraceptives might influence relationships, the researchers looked at a sample of 365 couples. They then investigated how satisfaction levels in both sexual and non-sexual aspects of their relationship were influenced by the use of hormonal contraceptive.
"Our findings showed women who had met their partner while taking the pill and were still currently taking it-as well as those who had never used the pill at any point-reported greater sexual satisfaction than those women who had begun or stopped using the pill during the course of the relationship," said Craig Roberts, one of the researchers, in a news release. "In other words, the congruence of women's pill us throughout the relationship had a greater influence on sexual satisfaction levels than either simply being on the pill or not being on the pill."
That said, there was no difference in the non-sexual aspects of relationship satisfaction between the different groups of women. In addition, the use of contraception made no difference on the male partner.
"Previous research has shown that hormonal contraceptives, such as the pill, subtly alter women's ideal partner preferences and that often women who are using the pill when they meet their partner find the same partner less physically attractive when they come off the pill," said Roberts in a news release. "Our new results support these earlier finds but, crucially, they also point to the impact a change in hormonal contraceptive use during a relationship-either starting or stopping-can have on a woman's sexual satisfaction with her partner."
The findings reveal how the pill can impact a woman's relationship-even if it is subtly. It seems that what's important is whether a woman's current use matches her use when she began the relationship with her partner.
The findings are published in the journal Psychological Science.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone