Published In
PLoS ONE
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2017
Subjects
Non-monogamous relationships -- Psychological aspects, Sexual ethics, Open marriage -- Psychological aspects, Non-monogamous relationships -- Public opinion
Abstract
In consensually non-monogamous relationships there is an open agreement that one, both, or all individuals involved in a romantic relationship may also have other sexual and/or romantic partners. Research concerning consensual non-monogamy has grown recently but has just begun to determine how relationships amongst partners in consensually nonmonogamous arrangements may vary. The current research examines this issue within one type of consensual non-monogamy, specifically polyamory, using a convenience sample of 1,308 self-identified polyamorous individuals who provided responses to various indices of relationship evaluation (e.g. acceptance, secrecy, investment size, satisfaction level, commitment level, relationship communication, and sexual frequency). Measures were compared between perceptions of two concurrent partners within each polyamorous relationship (i.e., primary and secondary partners). Participants reported less stigma as well as more investment, satisfaction, commitment and greater communication about the relationship with primary compared to secondary relationships, but a greater proportion of time on sexual activity with secondary compared to primary relationships. We discuss how these results inform our understanding of the unique costs and rewards of primary-secondary relationships in polyamory and suggest future directions based on these findings.
DOI
10.1371/journal. pone.0177841
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/20294
Citation Details
Balzarini RN, Campbell L, Kohut T, Holmes BM, Lehmiller JJ, Harman JJ, et al. (2017) Perceptions of primary and secondary relationships in polyamory. PLoS ONE 12(5): e0177841. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0177841
Description
Copyright: © 2017 Balzarini et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.