More Than Disclosure: Examining the Impact of the Process of Sexual Communication on Intimate Relationships Over Time

Abstract

Sexual communication is a critical interpersonal process that contributes to sexual health and wellbeing within intimate relationships (Byers & Demmons, 1999; Rancourt et al., 2016; Rehman et al., 2011). Despite its recognized importance, understanding of sexual communication remains constrained by conceptual and measurement limitations, particularly regarding how it develops and changes over time. Building on this literature, this program of research developed and validated multidimensional measures of sexual communication and examined factors associated with sexual communication and sexual wellbeing across a six-month period. In Study 1, I developed and validated two questionnaires: the Multidimensional Sexual Communication Questionnaire-Sexual Preferences (MSC-SP) and the Multidimensional Sexual Communication Questionnaire-Safer Sex (MSC-SS), which assess perceived consequences and depth of disclosure across distinct sexual content domains. Findings supported a multidimensional conceptualization of sexual communication, demonstrated strong psychometric properties in two independent samples, and established measurement invariance across diverse genders, sexualities, ages, and racial groups. In Study 2, I tested key pathways of the Process Model of Sexual Communication (PMSC) across a six-month prospective longitudinal study of individuals in romantic relationships, examining how individual (avoidant attachment) and relational (perceived partner responsiveness) factors shape sexual communication and sexual wellbeing. Longitudinal models identified between-person differences in sexual communication processes but provided insufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions about within-person change. Exploratory cross-sectional analyses showed that, after accounting for the cognitive and motivational variables included in the PMSC, disclosure depth retained a unique association with perceived partner understanding, whereas its association with sexual wellbeing was statistically accounted for by variance shared with these variables. Together, these findings advance a multidimensional understanding of sexual communication and provide validated and inclusive tools for its assessment. This work provides a foundation for further testing and refining the PMSC to clarify how individual factors and broader relationship dynamics shape sexual communication over time and how these processes jointly contribute to sexual and relational wellbeing.