Sex, Money, and Romantic Relationships

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Background

Talking about sex and money publicly is taboo in most cultures. Perhaps relatedly, two of the primary drivers of couple conflict and relational dissolution/divorce are also sex and money. Sex and money are hard to talk about but are central to most individuals and romantic relationships. They are also reflective of core attitudes and values. The academic domains of family finance and sexuality are both growing rapidly, and each is vital to our understanding of romantic relationships. Studying them in tandem would likely yield important findings.

In this Research Topic, we seek to increase our understanding of how sex and money operate concurrently in romantic relationships. Despite their mutual salience, only a handful of studies have examined these two facets of romantic relationships simultaneously. While sex and money are independently important to romantic relationships, some research suggests that they may also be linked to and interact with each other. Our goal is to promote the study of these links and interactions.

Each study should include some element or variable related to sex (e.g., sexual behaviors, attitudes, or outcomes and/or biological sex) AND some element or variable related to money (e.g., income levels, SES, financial management or attitudes, materialism, or power dynamics). Each study should also include some element or variable related to romantic relationships AND/OR should utilize a sample comprised of those in romantic relationships. We welcome both empirical and theoretical papers. We welcome papers using various methodologies, from various disciplines, studying various samples, and with various foci. We seek samples with diversity in race/ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, and relationship contexts. We are especially interested in papers that investigate how the ongoing pandemic continues to reshape money and/or sex in relationships. We encourage authors to consider what meaningful implications might result from their findings for couples and those who work with them or on their behalf—educators, clinicians, policymakers, etc.

Keywords: Sex, Sexual Satisfaction, Finances, Financial Stress, Financial Satisfaction, Couple Communication, Work-Family Conflict, Relationship Satisfaction, Marital Satisfaction, Marital Stability

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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