Help needed with collecting accurate anonymous on-line research about swinging

[Vjklander]

I dunno. I'm of the opinion some real field research would be a much better methodology.
Vjk

Originally Posted by rvedd001

Dear Sir/Ma’am,

I am a graduate student in psychology at Old Dominion University and am currently seeking volunteers for a research study on swinging and its effect on committed relationships. I am additionally collecting information that will greatly assist in updating what is currently known about the swinger lifestyle, as the majority of research on this lifestyle is greatly outdated.


Sincerely,

Rachel Vedder

[WesternSwing]

Originally Posted by rvedd001

I also looked at gender differences in sexual permissiveness. The results supported a significant difference between men and women on sexual permissiveness, indicating that men are more permissive than women. This is much like what past reseach has found with other populations.

In addition, sexual permissiveness was significantly, positively correlated with commitment, r=.22, p<.01, such that low sexual permissiveness scores, which suggest greater sexual permissiveness, were related to lower reports of commitment to one’s primary relationship. As such, the positive correlation demonstrates that individuals who have elevated permissive attitudes towards the sexual experiences of others, tend to have lower commitment to their primary relationship.

If I read this right, though, when comparing to the General Societal data we have to take into account that the majority of those "sexually permissive" are also cheating, or more prone to cheating. Cheating includes dishonesty and deception. Swingers are not dishonest with each other about sexual fantasies and who they are having sex with outside their relationship. Therefore, I would state that a comparison of this nature - comparing sexually permissive people in supposedly monogamous relationships to sexually permissive people in open relationships - a an inaccurate conclusion. More would have to be explored in respect to swingers attitudes about marriage and commitment to their primary partner.

Mr. WS

[Vjklander]

A. "In the first step I addressed gender differences in commitment and found none"
B. "men are more permissive than women"
C. "elevated permissive attitudes towards the sexual experiences of others, tend to have lower commitment"

If men are more permissive than women, and greater permissiveness causes lower levels of commitment, then how could there be equal levels of commitment?

Or, if there are different levels of commitment, how can levels of commitment be equal?

%-)

[rvedd001]

Good questions from everyone. I will be posting the rest of my findings hopefully tonight and then I will be happy to discuss everything.


I hope that everyone knows that I have done this research to promote positive findings regarding swinging, which I have found.

This was a truly remarkable experience.

Rachel

[two4youinswva]

I just want to say it's awesome that you followed through with this and are giving us feedback on your research!

Thanks for your contributions to swinging through your research, and sharing your findings with us.
We are looking forward to your follow-ups.

[rvedd001]

Here we are with more of my findings.

Marital status and desire to swing-

Of the married participants, both sexes (Males=48.2%, Females= 49.2%) primarily responded that their marital status does not influence their desire to swing. The unmarried participants (Males=100.0%, Females=83.5%) additionally reported that getting married would not affect their desire to swing.

How swinging impacts the romantic relationship-

Participants were asked what about the swing lifestyle influences their relationship both positively and negatively. For positive influences to the relationship, the most frequent positive influence to the relationship for both sexes was that by participating in swinging, they are adding to their partnership (Males=82.6%, Females=72.4%), followed by swinging benefits their sexuality (Males=24.6%, Females=29.8%). For negative influences to the relationship, the most frequent negative influence to the relationship for both sexes was the orphan category that included “nothing,” (Males=48.4%, Females=72.2%), which was followed by internalized negative affects (i.e., jealousy, fear of STI) for both men (28.5%) and women (38.9%).

Remaining in the lifestyle-

Regarding the length of time the participants’ intend to remain in the lifestyle, the two most frequent responses for males and females were that participant’s intended to swing as long as there as some benefit or pleasure to swinging (Males = 83.0%, Females = 49.9%), or that that they intended to swing for a certain period of time, such as until their death (Males = 54.8%, Females = 53.7%).

Safe behaviors and attitudes-

To assess how frequently participants use precautionary measures to protect themselves against STIs and HIV transmission, a 5-point question response option ranging from “every time” to “never” was given. Only a small percentage (.7%) of the sample did not respond to this question. Most of the sample reported using precautions every time (52.4%), followed by most times (23.4%), sometimes (13.8%), rarely (8.3%), and never (1.4%). No gender differences were found in use of precautionary measures.

The majority (72.4%) of participants reported that they had been voluntarily tested for STIs and HIV since they had begun swinging, whereas slightly more than a quarter (27.6%) of the sample reported that they had not. No gender differences were found in getting tested.

Most of the sample reported having never been diagnosed with any type of sexually transmitted infection (85.5%). No gender differences were found in STI infection diagnosis.

The majority of the sample reported some fear (54.5%) of transmission of HIV, AIDS, and sexually transmitted infections. This was followed by moderate fear at (29.0%), high fear at (10.3%), and lastly no fear of transmission at (6.2%).

Precautions taken to address fear of disease and infection transmission revealed that the most frequent precautions taken by both sexes (Males=77.9%, Females=86.7%) are reducing the transfer of body fluid by the use of condoms and other means, followed by being conscientious about the selection of partners through a variety of means, such as selecting partners that appear to practice good hygiene and being very selective about the type of sexual partner that is acceptable to swing with (Males=37.4%, Females=53.7%).

Defining commitment-

Finally, to define what commitment means within a swing population, participants provided personal descriptions and definitions for how they define commitment. The most frequent aspect of commitment that was endorsed by both sexes was feeling positive emotions and psychological attachment (Males=67.9%, Females=70.4%), followed by the merging of lives (Males=42.7%, Females=40.3%).

These are my major findings. I think there are some really positive things here!

Thanks,

Rachel

[gatorvol64]

I, too, would like to thank you for following up with your findings. I've been reading them as you post. I just have the same question/concern that others have mentioned regarding commitment.

Vol

[rvedd001]

Now, let me start trying to answer some questions. I will ask for your forgiveness in advance if I do not get to them all. I am moving, and trying to juggle many things, but I will give it my best shot!

I understand that some things I reported here may make you bristle, and I understand that completely. I hope that there are things that I found here that please you as well. Certainly this research is not perfect, no research is. I would be a fool to say that mine has no flaws! I did the best I could though, with some people that are amazing and learned a lot. That was my aim. To learn more about this culture, and hopefully dispel some myths.

Socolais-What suprised me most about my findings was a few things. I came in to this having no idea how commitment would be defined by a swinger. This has never been asked in research before. It turned out that it was defined in a very "traditional" way. To me that shoots the hell out of the theories that some have that swingers are these people that have no idea as to what a "real" relationship was. All of these things kept coming up when commitment was defined such as an emotional bond, friendship, security, loyalty, honesty, communication, being there for one another, and sharing responsability. Now how can you tell me that this is so different from what non-swingers want? The primary difference lies of course in sexual expectations. That is where we see the parting of ways, but primarily, this sample defined commitment much like anybody else more than likely would.

I was not suprised by, but was pleased to see how many people use condoms and get tested for sexually transmitted infections. That blows another "outsider" thoery to hell that those who participate in this lifestyle are all disease-ridden and sexually irresposponsible.


two42lovers-

To measure sexual permissiveness I used the permissiveness subscale of the Sexual Attitudes Scale by Hendrick and Hendrick. To measure commitment I used the Investment Model Scale. Both measures are reliable and valid and have been used with a variety of populations.

What I would like to note about measuring commitment is that it is quite possible that no scale currently is use may by proper to use to measure commitment in swingers. Although the current study found that swingers define commitment in a similar traditional manner to those in monogamous relationships, the major difference of sexual expectations within the committed relationship still needs to be taken into consideration. The IMS scale may not be truly sensitive enough to detect these types of changes in this population. In other words, by not being able to accurately measure both the more traditional and non-traditional aspects of commitment within this population, it is difficult to distinguish individual differences that would illustrate relationships with other concepts. I noted this in my thesis so that it is very clear that this is a potential limitation.


Chicup-

First of all, please see above to see what measures I used. A correlation was found, the more permissive you are, the less commited you feel. This finding while unpleasant to some, was found. Once again, this correlation may not be found with a more accurate measure for commitment with swingers.

The IMS scale defines commitment as the intent to remain in a relationship.

Secondly, if you read some of my other findings, I also did find that swingers report more positive than negative influences to their relationship due to swinging. When I asked about negative influences, a whole bunch of you said a big ol "NOTHING" influences your relationshpi negatively. That's an awesome finding!


Vjklander-

So you think I should have gone and done some real field research like Mr. Gould? Oh yes, it would have been awesome, and don't think I was not invited or still tempted now. Due to the fact that I fund my own research, and have time constraints, the internet seemed to be the best option for the research. Sure there are always better options. Maybe next time?

You ask how can commitment levels be equal? They are not significant when you look at the differences between men and women. Even though men and women are different in permissiveness, it does not effect the overall relationship between permissiveness and commitment.

However, when you run a correlation, which looks at the degree of relationship between two variables (commitment and permissiveness) a significant relationship was found. The two scores go in the same direction. A high score in commitment goes with a high score in permissiveness (keep in mind a high score in permissiveness means low permissiveness). Does this make sense?

WesternSwing-

The definition of sexual permissiveness for research purposes is and individuals that holds certain beliefs about themselves and others sexuality, such as acceptance of extensive sexual experience (e.g., multiple sexual partners, variety of sexual practices). It is unfair to generalize and say that those that are sexually permissive cheat. That may be true or half-true, or maybe not at all. But that is something that I could not say unless it was established. In research we pull from what has been done to give us some basis of course for comparison. This is why I compare my findings with those of other researchers. Swingers are very different, and I have noted that over and over in my thesis. I agree 100% that much more has to be done in respect to swingers attitudes about marriage and commitment to their primary partner. This is one of the most interesting things I have ever researched, and I really think that so many of you have a great thing going.

Whew! I hope that this helps you guys so far. I'm sure there's a million typos in here and I'm sorry for that!

Have a great night everyone.

Rachel

[socolais]

My thoughts on the corelation between permissiveness and commitment in the population of swingers

I did a quick google search and spent a few hours skimming various studies regarding sexual permissiveness and the preponderance of studies I found demonstrated a strong corelation across a wide cultural diversity. It's generally accepted that more permissiveness is strongly associated with lower commitment to the relationship. It would be easy to follow the indication of a large data set and assume it's applicability to the smaller population of successful swingers. I also noticed several of the studies showed a strong positive corelation between more permissiveness and less desirable social behaviors summarized as "loose morals". A reduced commitment to the marital relationship easily fits within that package of loose morals - a common stereotype.

I think it was my assumed probability of encountering loose morals among swingers that kept me on the other side of the fence for so many years. My limited initial observation of swingers quickly dispelled my assumption. Many conversations with active successful swingers on this forum and others locally (shall we say "face to face") easily convinced me that the corelation was strongly negative. That's not to say, more permissiveness "causes" stronger commitment. I believe a stronger commitment "allows" more permissiveness (additional factors may need to be addressed).

I believe the combination of strong marital commitment and relaxed permissiveness is a fundamental core concept of swinging as a recreational activity as practiced by couples.

Rachel, thanks again for this information.

[rvedd001]

Socolias-

You are so very welcome. I am more than happy to share and hear everyone's thoughts. You have brought up a very interesting point about commitment. I really appreciate hearing from all perspectives.

[two42lovers]

I believe the combination of strong marital commitment and relaxed permissiveness is a fundamental core concept of swinging as a recreational activity as practiced by couples.

Note the study is saying the opposite. The more sexually permissive a swinging couple is, the less commitment the couple has to each other. Couples who are less sexually permissive are more committed. This sounds like pretty good ammo for people who are against swinging. (i.e. the more of a swinger you are, the less committed you are to your relationship.)

[magiriano]

Originally Posted by two42lovers

Note the study is saying the opposite. The more sexually permissive a swinging couple is, the less commitment the couple has to each other. Couples who are less sexually permissive are more committed. This sounds like pretty good ammo for people who are against swinging. (i.e. the more of a swinger you are, the less committed you are to your relationship.)

This is an interesting approach...It reminds me about an online friend that likes to use the word RESPECT a lot in regards with the lifestyle....C'mmon, we're getting our kicks from having strangers insert their d...s in our lovely wife's mouths or whatever orifices they seem fit.
Respect and commitment doesn't have anything to do with the act in itself.
We just are at a bond and comfort level where we wanna see our loved ones enjoying themselves, I see it as an ultimate act of selflessnes and I can see no greater commitment than that.
Of course you run into odd ones that care about numbers or don't care about their spouse and see swinging as a way of getting sex outside their relationship even if their spouse repeatedly has to take one for the team.

[socolais]

Originally Posted by two42lovers

Note the study is saying the opposite. The more sexually permissive a swinging couple is, the less commitment the couple has to each other. Couples who are less sexually permissive are more committed. This sounds like pretty good ammo for people who are against swinging. (i.e. the more of a swinger you are, the less committed you are to your relationship.)

I think Mark Twain said it best, "There's lies, damn lies, and statistics."

[sweet_tna]

Rachel, I just wanted to say thank you for allowing us to help you with your research and for being so upstanding about not only keeping your promise to give us some of the results, but to answer our questions, as well.

If you do ever get to try "researching" through your own personal experiences, we'd be very interested to hear your impressions. Okay, we'd want the "dirt", too.

Best of luck to you, and I hope you stick around.

=)

[rvedd001]

You guys are great. Of course I shared my results, they were not possible to obtain without the help of many of you here. I couldn't take from people with promises to share, knowing that I would never return to this incredible board.

As many of you know I have close friends and a sibling that swings, so my interest in this was from the start truly genuine. In almost two years of researching this, I have loved truly every minute of it.

I'm moving to California in three weeks to finish start my doctorate now that my masters is over, so, who knows what fun adventures lie ahead in that diverse state?

to everyone, I'll be around!