Agentic and communal personality traits: relations to attitudes toward sex and sexual experiences

This study was designed to examine relations among agentic and communal personality traits, attitudes toward sex, and sexual experiences in a sample of 202 undergraduates. As predicted, acceptance of interpersonal violence, with particular reference to intimate and sexual relationships, was positively associated with unmitigated agency. Among male participants, willingness to engage in uncommitted sexual relations was positively associated with unmitigated agency and negatively associated with communion and unmitigated communion. Among female participants, agency was positively related to satisfaction with current sexual and romantic relationships. These results partially support Helgeson's (1994) theoretical model that links unmitigated agency to relational conflict and instability and links communion to emotional bonding and commitment. KEY WORDS: unmitigated agency; unmitigated communion; sexual relationships; personality.