DATE: September 12, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG
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TITLE: Having multiple partners does not compromise sexual health, large study finds
URL: https://www.psypost.org/having-multiple-partners-does-not-compromise-sexual-health-large-study-finds/
A recent study published in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships provides evidence that engaging in multiple romantic or sexual relationships does not compromise sexual health. Across two large datasets, researchers found that people in non-monogamous relationships, whether through mutual consent or secrecy, tended to report sexual functioning, satisfaction, and health outcomes that were comparable to, and in some cases slightly better than, those of people in strictly monogamous relationships.
Consensual non-monogamy involves partners mutually agreeing to allow outside romantic or sexual relationships, such as in polyamory or swinging. Infidelity, by contrast, involves engaging in outside relationships secretly and without a partner’s consent.
It is a common assumption that monogamy is inherently safer and more satisfying, but prior work paints a different picture. A study covered by PsyPost in 2016 found that more than one in five single American adults have engaged in consensual non-monogamy at some point. Following this demographic realization, research has sought to understand how these relationship structures operate. For instance, a 2015 study found that people in mutually agreed-upon open relationships were just as likely to practice safe sex and had similar rates of sexually transmitted infections compared to monogamous couples.
Expanding on that, a 2012 study indicated that people who cheat on their partners tend to be less likely to practice safer sex than those in openly non-monogamous relationships. In terms of sexual satisfaction, a 2019 study suggested that polyamorous individuals often experience higher levels of passion and eroticism with secondary partners than with their primary partners.
The current study builds on this progression by testing whether sexual functioning, desire, and the risk of sexually transmitted infections actually differ across relationship types. By strictly distinguishing between consensual non-monogamy and secret infidelity, the researchers used both targeted and large representative population datasets to answer this question.
The research was led by Michelle Larva-Ruhala, a doctoral researcher at the University of Turku’s INVEST Research Flagship Centre in Finland, who aimed to capture a comprehensive picture of how managing multiple partners influences sexual wellbeing.
“We addressed two gaps in research on [consensual non-monogamy],” Larva-Ruhala told PsyPost. “Firstly, we know from previous research that [consensually non-monogamous] relationships are similar to monogamous relationships in relationship quality and sexual satisfaction, but sexual functioning among people with multiple partners has not been studied outside the context of infidelity.”
“Second, the presumption has been that the transparent, negotiated, ‘ethical’ nature of (consensual) non-monogamy is what leads to these better outcomes and sets it apart from infidelity, which we associate with lower quality, conflict, etc.,” she continued. “So, in a nutshell, we wanted to know if having other partners had any ‘spillover effects’ into the bedroom, and whether the consensual vs. non-consensual nature of the non-monogamy had anything to do with it.”
The researchers utilized a two-study approach. In the first study, the team analyzed data from 888 adults recruited through an online survey across multiple countries, including the United States, Portugal, Italy, and Finland. Participants reported their relationship identity as either monogamous or consensually non-monogamous, which included categories like polyamory and open relationships. They also answered questions about how often their interactions with others felt like infidelity or involved keeping sexual and emotional secrets from their primary partner.
To measure sexual functioning, the survey used validated questionnaires assessing domains like desire, arousal, lubrication, and satisfaction for women, and erection, ejaculation, and satisfaction for men. Participants with multiple partners completed these measures for up to two partners. The survey also asked about participants’ history of testing for and being diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections.
The results of the first study showed that sexual functioning was largely similar between monogamous and non-monogamous individuals. However, partner-specific differences emerged. Women with multiple partners reported greater sexual desire, arousal, and satisfaction with their non-primary partners compared to their primary partners, and their scores with non-primary partners were also higher than the scores reported by single-partnered women.
These findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost in 2019, which found that polyamorous individuals report greater eroticism with secondary partners, suggesting they may diversify how their sexual needs are fulfilled across different relationships. Among men, sexual functioning did not differ by relationship type or between partners.
When looking at sexual health practices, polyamorous individuals were 3.6 times more likely to have ever been tested for a sexually transmitted infection compared to monogamous individuals. Despite this higher rate of testing and having more partners, the prevalence of sexually transmitted infection diagnoses did not differ between the two groups.
For the most part, infidelity was not linked to worse sexual functioning. There was one exception: men who reported keeping emotional attachments and sexual encounters secret from their primary partner tended to report lower sexual satisfaction in that primary relationship.
“We were surprised by the finding that infidelity was not associated with worse outcomes,” Larva-Ruhala noted. “Both studies suggest that, on average, having multiple concurrent partners isn’t necessarily tied to poorer sexual health, whether through consensual or non-consensual non-monogamy.”
The second study expanded the investigation to a population level, utilizing a pooled dataset of 10,503 participants from Finland. This dataset combined responses from genetic and behavioral research projects. Participants self-reported their relationship structure and completed broad measures of sexual wellbeing.
For women, this included overall sexual desire and functioning. For men, the researchers assessed premature ejaculatory symptoms, meaning how well they could control ejaculation. The study also measured general dyadic desire, which is the level of sexual interest a person feels toward an attractive partner.
To ensure fair comparisons between the small fraction of non-monogamous individuals and the large monogamous majority, the researchers statistically matched participants on factors like age, gender, and sociosexual orientation, a measure of how willing a person is to engage in uncommitted sex. They also controlled for whether the couples lived together and the gender of their partners.
This approach provided a unique advantage over previous work. “The method used in Study 2 is important for the current research on [consensual non-monogamy],” Larva-Ruhala explained. “Most studies… use data collected from online surveys that people in [consensually non-monogamous] relationships opt into, which is partly necessary in order to obtain a big enough pool of participants to conduct the analyses we want to do, but it also means heavy selection-bias.”
“People who are generally happy in their relationships and interested in representing their relationship configuration may be more quick to participate in these surveys,” she added. “However, study 2 used data from population-representative samples in studies not focused on [consensual non-monogamy], so we can assume people all across the board completed the survey, lowering some of that bias. It improves the generalizability of the results.”
In this population-based sample, non-monogamous men reported fewer early ejaculatory symptoms than monogamous men. Non-monogamous women reported higher global sexual desire than monogamous women. Both men and women in non-monogamous relationships reported slightly greater dyadic desire.
Again, when the researchers specifically isolated the effects of infidelity, defined here as cheating or having partners who were unaware and non-consenting, they found no effect on these sexual health outcomes. This broader lack of negative effects aligns with a major review covered by PsyPost earlier this year, which found that consensually non-monogamous individuals report levels of relationship and sexual satisfaction that are statistically indistinguishable from those of monogamous couples.
As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The studies relied entirely on self-reported measures of sexual functioning and health, which can sometimes differ from objective physiological indicators or medical records. People might misremember their history of sexually transmitted infections or bias their answers to appear in a more favorable light.
Additionally, the first study grouped some participants under the broad umbrella of non-monogamy without distinguishing the specific agreements they had with their partners, such as whether they cohabitate or adhere to strict relationship hierarchies. The measure of infidelity in the second study also combined current and past cheating, meaning some participants may have reconciled with their partners long ago, potentially diluting the measurable impact of the infidelity on current sexual health. Future research could benefit from tracking couples over time to see how relationship structures and sexual health influence each other as relationship agreements evolve.
“Just because we didn’t find many differences in sexual health between those who cheat and those who practice ‘ethical’ forms of non-monogamy, doesn’t mean that doing one or the other is of no consequence,” Larva-Ruhala emphasized. “The results certainly don’t condone infidelity. They simply show that people can maintain sexual health under both versions of non-monogamy.”
To build on these findings, the research team hopes to see this work expanded. “We need replication research to validate or contradict these findings with further evidence, preferably in population-based samples from other countries,” she said.
The study, “Sexual Health in Monogamous and Non-Monogamous Relationships: Evidence From Convenience and Population-Based Samples,” was authored by Michelle A. Larva, David L. Rodrigues, Annika Gunst, Patrick Jern, Sabina Nickull, Marie-Pier Larose, Markus J. Rantala, and Justin K. Mogilski.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/having-multiple-partners-does-not-compromise-sexual-health-large-study-finds/
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