Some Survey-Based Suggestions to Boosting Satisfaction in Your Relationship

GoodInBed.com

One of the most sought after outcomes in romantic relationships is satisfaction. Sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, overall satisfaction...it is all desired. So how do we boost our chances of being sexually and relationally satisfied?

Since the majority of the research I do involves figuring out ways to maintain or promote couple's well-being, a lot of my research focuses in on this concept of satisfaction. With all of the surveys we conduct here at Good in Bed, I am always sure to incorporate a measure of satisfaction. Therefore, I'd like to take this opportunity to outline some of the findings from each of our surveys in ways that can be applied for increasing satisfaction in relationships.


Here are four ways to try and improve the satisfaction in your relationship, based on our survey findings:

1. Combat Boredom
In our survey of 3,341 individuals who were in a relationship at the time of data collection (1,418 men and 1,923 women), we assessed relationship boredom and how that might impact sexual and relationship dynamics.

  • Although women reported being more bored than men, women were significantly more sexually satisfied.

  • Sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction were significantly associated with feeling that boredom was a threat in the relationship: the more threatening boredom was to the relationship, the less satisfied the individual felt.

  • Sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction were significantly associated with the presence of boredom in the relationship: as boredom increased, sexual and relationship satisfaction decreased.

2. Boost Sexual Adventure
In our survey of 3,100 individuals (1,731 men and 1,369 women), we assessed sexual adventurousness as related to satisfaction and relationship dynamics.

  • Being sexually adventurous was significantly positively associated with the level of satisfaction with the sexual experience.

  • Participants perceived that their partner's satisfaction was also improved by engaging in sexually adventurous activities (though we did not collect data directly from the partners to confirm this perception).

  • Incorporating a sex toy was the most satisfying sexual behavior for women.

  • The greater the number of sexually adventurous activities engaged in, the greater the sexual satisfaction of the participant.

3. Embrace Holidays
In our survey of 2,167 individuals who were in a relationship at the time of data collection (1,262 men and 905 women), we examined the ways in which holidays impact sex and relationships.

  • Winter holidays, Valentine's Day, and New Year's Eve were rated as the three highest holidays to benefit the relationship; there were no significant gender differences in terms of what holidays were most beneficial.

4. Schedule Date-Nights
In our survey of 2,556 individuals who were in a relationship at the time of data collection (1,393 men and 1,163 women), we asked participants how they factor dates with their partner into their busy lifestyles. We also examined how date-night impacts their relationship and sexual dynamics.

  • Individuals who went on a date-night with their partner more recently scored significantly higher on both sexual and relationship satisfaction than individuals who went on date-night with their partner less recently.

  • 97.5% of the sample indicated they felt date-night made them feel very much or a little bit closer to their partner.

With all of these factors being significantly associated with satisfaction in fairly large samples of men and women, give one or two a try sometime. Also feel free to read the full reports of the Boredom Survey, Sexual Adventurousness Survey, Holiday Survey, and Date-Night Survey to get more ideas of how to apply our data to your sex lives.

By: Kristen Mark of Good in Bed