An Exploration of Dyadic Relationship Approach-Avoidance Goals and Relationship and Sexual Satisfaction in Couples Coping with Endometriosis

Cheryl Leigh McKay, Van Niekerk, Leesa, Mandy Louise Matthewson, Mandy Matthewson
Archives of sexual behavior · 2021 · vol. 51(3) , pp. 1637–1646 · doi:10.1007/s10508-021-02150-1 · PMID:34811656 · W3217389139
article OA: green CC0 ⤵ 8 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06+body, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

This study examined relationship approach-avoidance goals in couples coping with endometriosis, finding that higher approach goals correlated with higher sexual satisfaction for women and higher relationship satisfaction for partners, while higher avoidance goals correlated with greater relationship satisfaction for both.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

This cross-sectional online study examined whether approach-avoidance relationship goals are associated with sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction among 61 couples coping with endometriosis, with both women and their partners reporting their own and their partner’s goals. The authors found that higher relationship approach goals in women (for both women’s own and partner’s approach goals) were linked to higher women’s sexual satisfaction, while partners’ own approach goals were linked to partners’ own relationship satisfaction. They also reported that higher relationship avoidance goals in both women and partners were associated with higher relationship satisfaction. A key limitation is that the design is cross-sectional, preventing conclusions about directionality of effects; This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it specifically tests how dyadic approach-avoidance relationship goals relate to sexual and relationship satisfaction in couples coping with endometriosis.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Orgasm Adaptation, Psychological Coitus Cross-Sectional Studies Female Goals Humans Personal Satisfaction Sexual Behavior Sexual Partners Surveys and Questionnaires

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (49)

Cited by (8)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-14T06:08:20.186862+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:24:08.918168+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK