Broadening the lens: The generalizability of implicit theories of sexuality across sociodemographic variables

A growing body of work examines how people’s implicit theories of sexuality (i.e., their sexual growth and sexual destiny beliefs) relate to their sexual and relationship satisfaction. However, it is unknown how these beliefs and their associations may differ across sociodemographic factors. Using a U.S. census-stratified sample and LGBTQ+ sample of individuals in relationships recruited from Prolific ( N = 680), the authors tested whether (a) sexual growth and sexual destiny beliefs and (b) their associations with two measures of sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction differ based on age, socio-economic status (SES), relationship configuration (monogamous vs. consensually non-monogamous), and political orientation. Equivalence testing revealed that levels of sexual growth and sexual destiny beliefs were consistent across these factors, except that individuals with more conservative political orientations reported higher sexual destiny beliefs. The authors replicated past findings of the positive associations between sexual growth beliefs and sexual and relationship satisfaction; however, this did not generalize to lower levels of SES on both sexual satisfaction measures. Likewise, they generally replicated that the link between sexual destiny beliefs and satisfaction was moderated by sexual incompatibility, but this was further moderated by age (for one relationship satisfaction measure). Overall, the findings point to consistency in implicit theories of sexuality and their associations. This work contributes to the growing need for sexuality and relationship studies to consider the generalizability and representativeness of their findings and opens up avenues for future research to investigate differences that arise.