A study from California State University (USA) published in the Journal of Sexual Research reveals the link between short-lived relationships and depression or anxiety.
Relationships without a future
Some casual relationships, that is to say relationships with a partner met for less than a week, are, according to the researchers, indicative of low self-esteem. To confirm this premise, scientists analyzed data on the sexual behavior of 3,907 heterosexual students aged 18 to 35.
Anonymous students were asked to report the number of casual sex in the last 30 days. They also had to answer psychological questionnaires assessing self-esteem, taste for life, psychological well-being, anxiety and depression.
Men “consume” more casual relationships
18.6% of men and 7.4% of women reported at least one occasional sexual encounter in the month before the study.
After a cross-analysis of the questionnaires, the researchers noticed that this casual sexual intercourse is often linked to a fairly disturbed state of mental health or to high anxiety, for both men and women.
If casual sex appears to be associated with less balanced mental health, researchers have not yet claimed that this link is always true.
