Sexual Communication and Sexual Satisfaction in Canada and Spain

I am collaborating with Dr. Pablo Santos Iglesias, Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at UNB from 2013-2015, on a project investigating the relationship between sexual communication and sexual satisfaction in Canadian and Spanish dating couples. Past research has shown that sexual communication between couples can be verbal or nonverbal, and some research has shown that couples communicate more nonverbally than they do verbally (Sprecher & Cate, 2004). Nonetheless, research has primarily focused on the effects of verbal communication on sexual satisfaction, demonstrating that couples who self-disclose more about their sexual likes and dislikes tend to be more satisfied with their relationship and more sexually satisfied (MacNeil & Byers, 2005; 2009). Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to develop a measure of verbal and nonverbal sexual communication between partners and to investigate the extent to which other forms of sexual communication such as nonverbal communication and providing feedback to partners, are also related to sexual satisfaction. Our use of both Spanish and Canadian couples will also allow us to investigate the extent to which cultural differences between Spain and Canada affect sexual communication and sexual satisfaction, and the relationship between them. We are currently preparing a manuscript based on this data. This work builds on my other work on sexual communication and sexual satisfaction. It also builds on work validating the Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction with 197 Spanish couples that Pablo has collaborated on with Dr. Juan Carlos Sierra (Principal Investigator) of the University of Granada.

Santos-Iglesias, P. & Byers, S. E. (2011, June). The role of verbal and nonverbal communication in couple’s sexual satisfaction. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 8(suppl. 3), 104.

Sánchez-Fuentes, M. M., Santos-Iglesias, P., Sierra, J. C., Moyano, N., Vallejo-Medina, P. & Granados, M. R. (2012, July). Reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire (IEMSSQ). Poster presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research, Estoril, Portugal.

Sánchez-Fuentes, M. M., Santos-Iglesias, P., Sierra, J. C., Moyano, N., Granados, M. R. & Vallejo-Medina, P. (2012, July). Validation of the Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction in a Spanish sample using dyadic analysis. Poster presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research (IASR), Estoril, Portugal.

Santos-Iglesias, P., Sánchez, M. M., Vallejo-Medina, P., Sierra, J.C., Granados, M. R. & Moyano, N. (2012, July). Sexual rewards and costs in a Spanish sample of men and women: An examination of gender differences. Poster presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research, Estoril, Portugal.

Santos-Iglesias, P., & Byers, E. S. (2014, June). Sexual satisfaction in Spanish and Canadian men and women: A cross-cultural study. Poster presented at the meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research, Dubrovnik, Croatia.