Actual and desired duration of foreplay and intercourse: discordance and misperceptions within heterosexual couples

Journal of Sex Research, August, 2004 by S. Andrea Miller, E. Sandra Byers

Measures

Only the components of the questionnaire that were used in the present study are described here (see Byers & Grenier, 2003; Grenier & Byers, 2001, for a more complete description). A background questionnaire assessed age, relationship status, and education level. Additional background questions such as relationship length were placed at appropriate points throughout the questionnaire booklet.

The Perceptions of Sexual Behaviour Questionnaire was designed for this study to assess participants' ideal and performance scripts, perceptions concerning their partners' ideal scripts, and understanding of the ideal cultural role scripts for each gender. Participants provided the following information in minutes: (a) how long they thought most men and most women would like foreplay and intercourse to last (cultural role script); (b) how long they would like foreplay and intercourse to last (ideal script); (c) how long they thought their partners would like foreplay and intercourse to last (perceptions of partner's ideal script); and (d) the average duration of foreplay and intercourse with their present partner (performance script).

We calculated sexual misperception scores by determining the difference between perceptions of partner's ideal script and the partner's self-reported ideal script for foreplay and intercourse separately. We used the absolute values of the resulting scores for analysis.

We used the Global Measure of Sexual Satisfaction (GMSEX; Lawrance & Byers, 1998) to measure satisfaction with the sexual relationship. Participants responded to the following question: "In general, how would you describe your sexual relationship with your partner?" Respondents then rated their level of sexual satisfaction on five 7-point bipolar scales: very good to very bad, very pleasant to very unpleasant, very positive to very negative, very satisfying to very unsatisfying, and very valuable to worthless. Scores on the GMSEX can range from 5 to 35, with lower scores indicating less sexual satisfaction. Lawrance and Byers (1995, 1998) provided evidence that the GMSEX is significantly correlated with other measures of sexual satisfaction and has a high 3-month test-retest reliability. The internal consistency for the present sample was high ([alpha] = .96 for men, [alpha] = .95 for women).

Procedure

We sent two questionnaires (a male and a female version) as well as background materials to 1,989 male university alumni from all faculties at a mid-sized Canadian university. We included a cover letter that encouraged male participants to have their female partner participate in the research. Ten days after the questionnaires were mailed, a reminder letter was sent to these same alumni. Those interested in participating in the study completed the questionnaires and returned them via prepaid post.

Data Analysis

As the double entry method (Kenny, 2001) revealed that our sample was interdependent, we used repeated-measures t tests, MANOVAs, and ANOVAs to accommodate for the correlation between partners' reports.