Cross-Lagged Relations Between Sexual Attitudes, Perception of Love and Sex, and Young Adults’ Relationship Status: A Two-Wave Study

The purpose of this two-wave longitudinal study was to investigate cross-lagged relations between sexual attitudes, perception of love and sex, and young adults’ relationship status over a period of one year. The current study tested two hypotheses: the first hypothesis assuming that sexual attitudes, perception of love and sex can be predictive of relationship status after a one-year interval; and the second hypothesis assuming that relationship status at T1 can be predictive of sexual attitudes and perception of love and sex after a one-year interval. Results from 117 Polish young adults (94 females and 23 males) aged 20–33 (M = 21.42, SD = 1.79) indicated that the conviction that sex is no longer as much a part of the relationship as it used to be (i.e., Sex is Declining scale) measured in the first assessment was a significant predictor of relationship status after a one-year interval. Furthermore, sexual attitudes and perception of love and sex at T1 were found to be predictive of sexual attitudes and perception of love and sex at T2. In addition, gender at T1 was predictive of instrumentality at T2, while being female at T1 related to higher instrumentality at T2.