1) The study examined how attachment style influences individuals' motivations for casual sex and their enjoyment of different sexual encounters. 2) It was hypothesized that insecure attachment would motivate sex for self-reassurance, while anxious attachment would additionally motivate sex for relationship reassurance. 3) It was also hypothesized that enjoyment would depend on attachment style and encounter intimacy, with anxious individuals experiencing the most pleasure and positive emotions from intimate encounters, and avoidant individuals experiencing similar levels across all encounters.

1. • Conflicting findings have led to a lack of clarity as to the relation between casual
sex and well-being.
• Casual sex can take many forms (e.g., one-night stand, booty call, fuck buddies,
friends with benefits)1; however, previous research has conflated different types
of casual sex, oversimplifying patterns that may vary across categories.
• Because types of sexual encounters range according to levels of intimacy, they
are likely to have differing effects on psychological well-being.
QUESTION: How do type of encounter and attachment style influence individuals’
a) motivation to engage in sex and b) their enjoyment of sexual experiences?
HYPOTHESES:
1. Attachment style predicts motives for sex2. Insecurely attached individuals (i.e.
both anxious and avoidant) engage in sex to increase their self-esteem (self-
reassurance). Anxious individuals, who are extremely sensitive to relationship
threats 3, engage in sex to feel reassured about the relationship (i.e. relationship
reassurance).
2. Both a) physical pleasure and b) positive emotions depend on attachment style
and type of encounter. Anxious individuals experience higher levels of a)
physical pleasure and b) positive emotions when engaging in highly intimate
encounters because these encounters maximize their chances for reassurance.
In contrast, because avoidant individuals see sex as separate from intimacy3,
they experience similar levels of a) physical pleasure and b) positive emotions
across all different types of encounters.
One-
Night
Stand
Booty
Call
- INTIMACY +
PARTNER’S EFFORT:
Results: Levels of perceived partner’s effort during the encounter partially
mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and positive emotions
(Figure 3) and attachment avoidance and positive emotions (Figure 4).
Indirect effect: 95% CI [0.03, 0.07]
Thus, for both individuals higher in anxiety and individuals higher in
avoidance, their perceptions that their partner was not putting in effort to
please them contributed to lower feelings of positivity.
Perceived Partner
Effort
Attachment
Anxiety
-0.18*** 0.28***
0.05**
(-0.10 ***)
Positive
Emotions
Indirect effect: 95% CI [0.04, 0.08]
Perceived Partner
Effort
Attachment
Avoidance
Positive
Emotions
-0.17*** 0.28***
-0.12**
(-0.16 ***)
Figure 3: Figure 4:
NO STRINGS ATTACHED?
HOW ATTACHMENT ORIENTATION IS RELATED TO THE VARIETIES OF CASUAL SEX
RELATIONSHIPS
Alicia Nunez Segovia
Jessica A. Maxwell & Geoff MacDonald
PARTICIPANTS: 958 heterosexual individuals (477 males, 450 females, Mage = 31.9,
SD = 9.5) from U.S./Canada were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. 483
participants were in a committed relationship, and 475 participants had casual sex in
the past month.
MEASURES: Participants responded to a measure of attachment (Experiences in
Close Relationships – Short Form4). Regarding their most recent sexual encounter
participants indicated:
INTRODUCTION
• Attachment style predicted motivations for engaging in casual sex. Anxious
individuals engage in sex to feel reassured both about themselves and
about the relationship. In contrast, avoidant individuals, who tend to
minimize the amount of intimacy in their relationships5, engage in sex to
feel reassured about themselves but not to feel reassured about the
relationship.
• Both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were negatively
related to physical pleasure and positive emotions.
• Contrary to our predictions, anxious individuals experienced similar levels
of physical pleasure and positive emotions across all sexual encounters.
• As predicted, the type of encounter affected how much physical pleasure
and positive emotions avoidant individuals experience. Highly avoidant
individuals (+1 SD) reported the highest levels of physical pleasure and
positive emotions in Fuck Buddy encounters, followed by other casual
encounters, and the lowest levels of physical pleasure and positive
emotion in committed relationships.
• Individuals’ emotions regarding a sexual encounter were influenced by
their perceptions of their partner’s effort to please them.
1. Wentland, J. J., & Reissing, E. D. (2011). Taking casual sex not too casually: Exploring definitions of casual sexual relationships. The
Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 20(3), 75-91.
2. Davis, D., Shaver, P. R., & Vernon, M. L. (2004). Attachment style and subjective motivations for sex. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 30(8), 1076-1090.
3. Tracy, J. L., Shaver, P. R., Albino, A. W., & Cooper, M. L., (2003). . Attachment styles and adolescent sexuality. In P. Florsheim (Ed.),
Adolescent romance and sexual behavior: Theory, research, and practical implications (pp. 137-159). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
4. Wei, M., Russell, D. W., Mallinckrodt, B., & Vogel, D. L. (2007). The experiences in close relationship scale (ECR)-Short Form: Reliability,
validity, and factor structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 88(2), 187-204.
5. Gentzler, A. L., & Kerns, K. A. (2004). Associations between insecure attachment and sexual experiences. Personal Relationships, 11, 249-
265.
HYP 1: MOTIVATION:
Results: Table 1: Attachment anxiety was positively related to both self-
reassurance, and relationship reassurance. In contrast, attachment avoidance
was positively related to self-reassurance and negatively related to relationship
reassurance.
Rel
51%
Friends
with
Benefits
16%
Fuck
Buddy
11%
Booty
Call
6%
One-
Night
Stand
16%
Attachment Style Self Reassurance (α= .79) Relationship Reassurance (α=.85)
Anxious β = .24*** β = .28***
Avoidant β = .12*** β = -.29***
HYP 2a: PHYSICAL PLEASURE:
Results: Figure 1: Both anxiety and avoidance were negatively related to
physical pleasure. The effect of avoidance on physical pleasure was contingent
on the type of encounter, p < .001. Greater avoidance predicted less pleasure in
highly intimate encounters (i.e. relationships, friends with benefits) and low
intimacy encounters (i.e. one-night stand), but not in moderately intimate
encounters (i.e. booty call, fuck buddy). The effect of attachment anxiety was
not contingent on the type of encounter, p =.15, suggesting that anxious
individuals experience similar levels of physical pleasure across all types of
encounters.
HYP 2b: POSITIVE EMOTIONS:
Results: Figure 2: Both anxiety and avoidance were negatively related to
positive emotions. The effect of avoidance on positive emotions was contingent
on the type of encounter, p < .001, Greater avoidance predicted less positive
emotions in highly intimate encounters (i.e. relationships) and more positive
emotions in low intimacy encounters (i.e. one-night stand). The effect of anxiety
on positive emotions was not contingent on the type of encounter, p = .25
suggesting that anxious individuals experience similar levels of positive emotion
across all types of encounters.
Figure 1:
4.7
4.9
5.1
5.3
5.5
5.7
5.9
6.1
6.3
low avoidance (-1 sd) high avoidance (+1 sd)
PhysicalPleasure
Attachment avoidance
Fuck Buddies
Friends with
Benefits
Relationship
One-Night
Stand
Booty Call
Fuck Buddies
Friends with
Benefits
Relationship
One-Night
Stand
Booty Call
Figure 2:
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
4
4.2
4.4
4.6
4.8
low avoidance (-1 sd) high avoidance (+1 sd)
PositiveEmotions
Attachment avoidance
Committed
Relationship
Friends
with
Benefits
Fuck
Buddies
***
***
***
ns
ns
*** ns
**
ns
***
For more information contact: ali.nunezsegovia@mail.utoronto.ca
METHOD
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
Table 1:
•Type of encounter
• Motivations for engaging in the encounter (e.g. “to feel
reassured about the relationship”, “to increase my self-
esteem”)
•Positive emotions after the encounter (e.g., happy, excited)
•Physical pleasure experienced
• Perceived partner’s efforts during the encounter (i.e. how
much participants thought their partner was trying to please
them sexually)