Despite consistent evidence that sexual communication positively correlates with relationship and sexual satisfaction, there has been empirical murkiness regarding which aspects of sexual communication matter more or less for relationship and sexual satisfaction. A systematic meta-analysis was conducted to investigate if the strength of the association between sexual communication and relationship and sexual satisfaction varied by dimensions of sexual communication and individual, interpersonal, and cultural factors. The meta-analysis included 93 studies with 209 unique effect sizes, which represented 38,499 unique individuals in a current relationship. The multilevel meta-analysis evidenced a positive association between sexual communication and both relationship (r = .37) and sexual satisfaction (r = .43). For relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction, the effect size for quality of sexual communication (r = .43; .52) was larger compared to the frequency of sexual communication (r = .31; .31) and sexual self-disclosure (r = .28; .39). After controlling for the average age and relationship length of the sample, samples with married participants (r = .49) had larger effect sizes compared to samples with mixed relationship statuses (r = .35). Higher levels of individualism (b = .003) strengthened, and higher levels of gender inequality (b = −.06) weakened, the association between sexual communication and sexual satisfaction. Finally, when sociosexuality was low, sexual communication had a large association with relationship satisfaction for men (r = .69) and a small association for women (r = .16). Measurement, sample characteristics, and cultural factors have an important role in understanding the link between partners’ sexual communication and their relationship and sexual satisfaction.

Research and clinical data have shown that couples with sexual problems report a lack of sexual communication. However, no published meta-analyses have evaluated the relationship between sexual communication and sexual function. This meta-analysis examines the correlation between couples’ sexual communication and dimension of sexual function across 48 studies. Sexual communication was positively associated with sexual desire (r = .16), sexual arousal (r = .21), lubrication (r = .17), orgasm (r = .23), erectile function (r = .19), less pain (r = .12), and overall sexual function (r = .35). The effect sizes for sexual desire (r = .21; r = .12) and orgasm (r = .26; r = .16) were higher for women than for men. For overall sexual function, studies with married participants (r = .47) had a larger effect size than studies with participants with multiple relationship types (r = .31) or than studies with dating participants (r = .11). Effect sizes were larger for studies conducted outside of the United States (r = .39) compared to studies conducted in the United States (r = .12). We discuss the importance of addressing the relationship between sexual communication and sexual function, as well as future directions for research in this area.

Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) has largely focused on heterosexual relationships, but, in recent years, researchers have expanded their focus to include same-sex relationships. Using meta-analytic techniques, this study was conducted to examine the relative strength of various risk markers for men and women being perpetrators and victims of physical IPV in same-sex relationships. Articles were identified through research search engines and screened to identify articles fitting the inclusion criteria, a process that resulted in 24 studies and 114 effect sizes for the meta-analysis. The strongest risk marker among those with at least two effect sizes for both male and female perpetration was psychological abuse perpetration. The strongest risk marker among those with at least two effect sizes for IPV victimization was also perpetration of psychological abuse for males and psychological abuse victimization for females. Among same-sex-specific risk markers, internalized homophobia and fusion were the strongest predictors for being perpetrators of IPV for men and women, respectively. HIV status and internalized homophobia were the strongest risk markers for IPV victimization for men and women, respectively. Of 10 comparisons between men and women in risk markers for IPV perpetration and victimization, only 1 significant difference was found. The results suggest that although same-sex and heterosexual relationships may share a number of risk markers for IPV, there are risk markers for physical IPV unique to same-sex relationships. Further research and increased specificity in measurement are needed to better study and understand the influence of same-sex-specific risk markers for IPV.