The contribution of personality factors and gender to ratings of sex addiction among men and women who use the Internet for sex purpose

Abstract

Background and aims

Sex addiction is characterized by excessive sexual activity on the Internet. We have investigated the contribution of the Big Five personality factors and sex differences to sex addiction.

Methods

A total of 267 participants (186 males and 81 females) were recruited from Internet sites that are used for finding sexual partners. Participants’ mean age was 31 years ( SD = 9.8). They filled in the Sexual Addiction Screening Test (SAST), the Big Five Index, and a demographic questionnaire.

Results

Men have shown higher scores of sex addiction than women (Cohen’s d = 0.40), they were more open to experiences (Cohen’s d = 0.42), and they were less neurotic than women (Cohen’s d = 0.67). Personality factors contributed significantly to the variance of sex addiction [ F(5, 261) = 6.91, p < .001, R ² = .11]. Openness to experience (β = 0.18) and neuroticism (β = 0.15) had positive correlations with SAST scores, whereas conscientiousness (β = −0.21) had a negative correlation with SAST scores, and personality traits explained 11.7% of the variance. A parallel moderation model of the effect of gender and personality traits on sex addiction explained 19.6% of the variance and it has indicated that conscientiousness had a negative correlation with SAST scores. Greater neuroticism was associated with higher scores of SAST in men but not in women.

Discussion and conclusions

This study confirmed higher scores of sex addiction among males compared to females. Personality factors together with gender contributed to 19.6% of the variance of ratings of sex addiction. Among men, neuroticism was associated with greater propensity for sex addiction.