Self-Disclosure of Sexual Attitudes and Values, Sexual Difficulties, Sexual History, Sexual Preferences, and Solo-Sexual Behaviour in Romantic Relationships: A Meta-Analysis and Anonymous Online Survey

People often disclose many aspects of their sexuality, such as their sexual attitudes, history, and behaviours, to their close partners. There are many personal and interpersonal benefits of sharing this personal information, yet there are also costs that mean people are hesitant in disclosing facets of their sexuality even to romantic partners. Evidence on the extent to which people engage in sexual self-disclosure and the predictors (i.e., facilitators or barriers) of sexual self-disclosure is currently inconsistent and inconclusive. Two studies addressed these gaps by synthesising and extending existent research. In Study 1, a meta-analysis (k = 26, N = 7821) on sexual self-disclosure identified a moderate-to-high level of disclosure of sexual attitudes and values, sexual difficulties, sexual history, sexual preferences, and solo-sexual behaviours. We identified 16 significant correlates of greater sexual self-disclosure, the strongest being greater sexual communication satisfaction, greater sexual assertiveness, greater general self-disclosure, and lower perceived threat of disclosure to partner. Study 2 reports results from an anonymous online survey (N = 121) that addressed the lack of extant research on self-disclosure of sexual dysfunction. Participants’ mean level of self-disclosure of sexual dysfunction to their partners was moderately high. Tests of correlates of greater self-disclosure replicated the findings from the meta-analysis but, in a simultaneous regression model, people’s attachment avoidance emerged as the only significant variable that uniquely predicted lower self-disclosure. Our findings suggest people find a balance between the desire to both share and retain privacy over their sexual information. Our studies also emphasise the specific importance of people’s dispositional traits in predicting their level of sexual self-disclosure to romantic partners.