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. 2018 Dec 1;7(4):1015-1021.
doi: 10.1556/2006.7.2018.101. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

The contribution of personality factors and gender to ratings of sex addiction among men and women who use the Internet for sex purpose

Lee Shimoni  1 , Moria Dayan  1 , Koby Cohen  1 , Aviv Weinstein  1
Affiliations

The contribution of personality factors and gender to ratings of sex addiction among men and women who use the Internet for sex purpose

Lee Shimoni et al. J Behav Addict. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Sex addiction is characterized by excessive sexual activity on the Internet. We have investigated the contribution of the Big Five personality factors and sex differences to sex addiction.

Methods: A total of 267 participants (186 males and 81 females) were recruited from Internet sites that are used for finding sexual partners. Participants' mean age was 31 years (SD = 9.8). They filled in the Sexual Addiction Screening Test (SAST), the Big Five Index, and a demographic questionnaire.

Results: Men have shown higher scores of sex addiction than women (Cohen's d = 0.40), they were more open to experiences (Cohen's d = 0.42), and they were less neurotic than women (Cohen's d = 0.67). Personality factors contributed significantly to the variance of sex addiction [F(5, 261) = 6.91, p < .001, R2 = .11]. Openness to experience (β = 0.18) and neuroticism (β = 0.15) had positive correlations with SAST scores, whereas conscientiousness (β = -0.21) had a negative correlation with SAST scores, and personality traits explained 11.7% of the variance. A parallel moderation model of the effect of gender and personality traits on sex addiction explained 19.6% of the variance and it has indicated that conscientiousness had a negative correlation with SAST scores. Greater neuroticism was associated with higher scores of SAST in men but not in women.

Discussion and conclusions: This study confirmed higher scores of sex addiction among males compared to females. Personality factors together with gender contributed to 19.6% of the variance of ratings of sex addiction. Among men, neuroticism was associated with greater propensity for sex addiction.

Keywords: Big Five Index; compulsive sexual behavior; personality; sex addiction; sex differences.

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Figures

<i>Figure 1</i>.
Figure 1.
Model of the moderation effect of personality traits in the relationship between gender and sex addiction. Note. All presented effects are unstandardized; an is effect of gender on personality traits, women are coded as 0 and men as 1; bn is the effect of personality traits on sex addiction; c is direct effect of gender on sex addiction; c’ is total effect of gender on sex addiction. ***p < .0001. #p < .001
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