The Effects of Sexual Surrogacy on Satisfaction, Happiness, and Well-Being

<p>The study tested the effects of sexual surrogacy, which I define as the desire to fulfill sexual needs with a surrogate target (e.g., celebrity crushes), on sexual satisfaction, relationship, happiness, and well-being. To examine this topic, I conducted a cross-sectional experimental study. After being asked about sexual desire toward either their current partner or a celebrity crush with a sexual desire behavior inventory, participants were asked to answer questions about their sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, happiness, and well-being. I predicted that desire toward both surrogates and interpersonal targets will predict higher levels of sexual satisfaction, happiness, and well-being but that these associations would be weaker for the surrogate group. We found that sexual desire toward a parasocial target showed comparable associations with well-being compared to the partner group, but that some differences were observed in the effects of relationship satisfaction toward each target.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Liu-Pham, Ryan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lucas A. Keefer
• Donald Sacco

• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/805

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1861