Sexual exchanges and relationship satisfaction: Testing the role of sexual satisfaction as a mediator and gender as a moderator

We surveyed 499 young, single adult heterosexuals in order to test a social exchange-based model where sexual satisfaction mediated the association between individuals' judgments about their sexually-related exchanges and their relationship satisfaction. Path analysis, using structural equation modeling, supported the hypothesized model. Moreover, invariance tests revealed that gender moderated the model. The association between balance of sexual rewards to costs and sexual satisfaction was stronger for single women as compared to single men. The discussion explores the implications of the model and role of gender as a moderator.