How Sexual Is Sexual Desire ? 3

Though research has indicated links between sexual desire and testosterone (T) in women, few studies have considered the possibility that sexual desire may not be entirely ‘sexual’ in all circumstances. In this study, we examined the link between various forms of sexual desire (e.g., desire for orgasm, for emotional connectedness, for stress reduction, etc.) and T in a sample of healthy women. Participants (N = 198), both partnered (n = 83) and single (n = 115), completed the Desire Components Questionnaire (DCQ), a measure we created to address strength of multifaceted components of sexual desire. Participants were randomly assigned to imagine a partner or stranger while answering these questions. We used factor analysis to resolve the 65item questionnaire into 11 subscales, each exhibiting high internal consistency. There was a significant multivariate effect of relationship status and instruction manipulation on desire score. Scores were correlated with T assayed from saliva samples. Desire scores on the Kink/Reproduce subscale were significantly positively correlated with T, with desire to fantasize and desire to act out a fantasy most strongly accounting for the correlation. Findings from the study suggest that sexual desire is not entirely sexual in nature, but instead may reflect desire characterized by other psychosocial factors (e.g., emotional connectedness, sexual context, stress reduction/distraction, etc.). Results are discussed in light of the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds, which argues that sexual phenomena can be subdivided into high and low T categories in ways that are partially supported by the present study.