Motives for Technology-Mediated Sexual Interactions in Committed Romantic Relationships: Using the Approach-Avoidance Theoretical Framework in a Multi-Grounded Qualitative Examination

Abstract

Technology-mediated sexual interaction (TMSI) is a behavioral domain that captures all interpersonal exchanges of self-created, sexual material via technology (e.g., sexting, cybersex, phone sex). Most people report TMSI with romantic partners. Yet, few researchers have used motivational theory to examine people's motives for TMSI within this context. We conducted semi-structured, in-person interviews with 25 Canadian participants (15 cisgender women and 10 cisgender men; 18–40 years old; M age = 23.84, SD = 5.43), focused on their motivations for engaging in TMSIs with their current romantic partner(s). We used multi-grounded theory to analyze the transcribed interviews; this approach allows researchers to incorporate existing theories into qualitative results. First, we used a general inductive method to identify a variety of TMSI motives that participants discussed. Second, we used the approach-avoidance theoretical framework to organize and label motivational themes and categories. We identified four themes of approach and avoidance motives in participants' responses: self-, partner-, relationship-, and technology-focused motives. We also found that some participants reported motives against using TMSI. Some participants described their TMSI motives as connected to their outcomes: avoidance motives were described alongside negative TMSI experiences, and approach motives alongside positive experiences. We discuss implications for TMSI research and theory and demonstrate the benefits of theory-driven qualitative methods to improve future research.