<p>The current research study examined the way one’s relationship with self affects their relational intimacy with others, while accounting for the role of social media has in influencing this effect. This study uses self-compassion to examine one’s relationship with self and expands on the current knowledge that self-compassion influences one’s relationships. It was hypothesized that self-compassion would be positively associated with relational intimacy and negatively associated with social media use. A total of 173 participants contributed to this study. No significant relationship was found between self-compassion and social media use, as measured by social media use integration in to social routines and emotional connection, and integration into social routines. There was a significant positive relationship between self-compassion and relational intimacy but no support for social media use was a significant mediating variable.</p>

Recent studies have shown that sexual functioning and sexually related personal distress are weakly related in women, with only a minority of sexual difficulties resulting in significant levels of distress. However, there has been little systematic research to date on which factors moderate the relationship between sexual functioning and sexual distress. Our aim was to assess the degree to which relational intimacy and attachment anxiety moderate the association between sexual functioning and sexual distress in college-age women. Two hundred women (mean age = 20.25) completed surveys assessing sexual functioning, relational intimacy, attachment anxiety, and sexual distress. Relational intimacy and attachment anxiety moderated the association between multiple aspects of sexual functioning and sexual distress. For lubrication and sexual pain, functioning was more strongly associated with distress in low-intimacy vs. high-intimacy relationships, but only for women with high levels of attachment anxiety. Results regarding desire were mixed and neither intimacy nor attachment anxiety interacted with subjective arousal or orgasm in predicting distress. We conclude that both relational intimacy and attachment anxiety are important moderators of the association between sexual functioning and subjective sexual distress in women. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. / text

Background Relational intimacy is hypothesized to underlie the association between female sexual functioning and various sexual outcomes, and married women and women with sexual dysfunction have been generally absent from prior studies investigating these associations, thus restricting generalizability. Aim To investigate whether relational intimacy mediates sexual outcomes (sexual satisfaction, coital frequency, and sexual distress) in a sample of married women with and without impaired sexual functioning presenting in clinical settings. Methods Using a cross-sectional design, 64 heterosexual married women with (n = 44) and without (n = 20) impaired sexual functioning completed a battery of validated measurements assessing relational intimacy, sexual dysfunction, sexual frequency, satisfaction, and distress. Intimacy measurements were combined using latent factor scores before analysis. Bias-corrected mediation models of the indirect effect were used to test mediation effects. Moderated mediation models examined whether indirect effects were influenced by age and marital duration. Outcomes Patients completed the Female Sexual Function Index, the Couple's Satisfaction Index, the Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women, the Inclusion of the Other in the Self Scale, and the Miller Social Intimacy Test. Results Mediation models showed that impaired sexual functioning is associated with all sexual outcomes directly and indirectly through relational intimacy. Results were predominantly independent of age and marital duration. Clinical Implications Findings have important treatment implications for modifying interventions to focus on enhancing relational intimacy to improve the sexual functioning of women with impaired sexual functioning. Strengths and Limitations The importance of the role relational intimacy plays in broad sexual outcomes of women with impaired sexual functioning is supported in clinically referred and married women. Latent factor scores to improve estimation of study constructs and the use of contemporary mediation analysis also are strengths. The cross-sectional design precludes any causal conclusions and it is unknown whether the results generalize to male partners, partners within other relationship structures, and non-heterosexual couples. Conclusion Greater relational intimacy mitigates the adverse impact of impaired sexual functioning on sexual behavior and satisfaction in women. Witherow MP, Chandraiah S, Seals SR, et al. Relational Intimacy Mediates Sexual Outcomes Associated With Impaired Sexual Function: Examination in a Clinical Sample. J Sex Med 2017;14:843–851.