Asexuality and relationship investment: visible differences in relationship investment for an invisible minority

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sexual attraction is a component of most romantic relationships, making it difficult to disentangle from other motives to invest in relationships. Despite the lack of sexual attraction that characterises asexuality, many self-identified asexual individuals report the desire to enter a romantic relationship. These understudied individuals provide a unique opportunity to study relationship investment in the absence of sexual attraction. We compared relationship investment, a well-established aspect of interpersonal relationships, between asexual (n = 139) and allosexual (n = 224) individuals. Participants completed a modified Investment Model Scale, which examined satisfaction, quality of alternatives, investment size, and commitment in romantic relationships and friendships. Contrary to our prediction that asexual individuals would invest less than allosexual individuals in romantic relationships, but not in friendships, they reported lower satisfaction, investment size, and commitment, and higher quality of alternatives than did allosexual individuals across both types of relationships. Although lack of sexual attraction could explain lower investment scores in romantic relationships for asexual individuals, some other effect may be responsible for reported differential investment in friendships.