Communal and exchange approaches to sexual relations

Abstract

Sexual relationships may be viewed from a communal perspective which emphasizes caring and concern for a partner's sexual needs and preferences, or else from an exchange perspective which emphasizes a quid pro quo approach. The purpose of the present investigation was to construct and validate an objective self-report instrument measuring communal and exchange approaches to sexual relations, the Sexual Relationship Scale (SRS). Reliability analyses indicated that the two SRS scales designed to measure communal and exchange approaches to sexual relations had reasonably strong internal consistency, and other analyses revealed that, among females, the two SRS subscales were essentially orthogonal to one another. In addition, it was found that the Sexual Relationship Scale correlated in predictable ways with measures of relationship orientation. Additional evidence indicated that men's and women's relationship satisfaction was influenced by their tendency to approach sexual relationships from either a communal or an exchange perspective.