News Finding: When it came to those who were sociosexually unrestricted, having casual sex was associated with higher self-esteem and life satisfaction and lower depression and anxiety.
Paper Finding: Among low-SOI participants, those who had casual sex did not differ significantly from those who did not have casual sex on self-esteem (B ¼ À0.10, SE ¼ 0.07, p ¼ .168), depression (B ¼ 0.13, SE ¼ 0.08, p ¼ .104), or anxiety (B ¼ 0.11, SE ¼ 0.07, p ¼ .130).
News Context: By the end of the study, 42 percent of subjects reported having sex outside a relationship. When it came to those who were sociosexually unrestricted, having casual sex was associated with higher self-esteem and life satisfaction and lower depression and anxiety. "Typically, sociosexually unrestricted individuals (i.e., those highly oriented toward casual sex) reported lower distress and higher thriving following casual sex, suggesting that high sociosexuality may both buffer against any potentially harmful consequences of casual sex and allow access to its potential benefits," the researchers write.
Paper Context: Simple slope analyses indicated that high-SOI participants who had casual sex over the academic year had higher self-esteem (B ¼ 0.14, SE ¼ 0.06, p ¼ .025) and marginally lower depression (B ¼ À0.12, SE ¼ 0.07, p ¼ .091) and anxiety (B ¼ À0.11, SE ¼ 0.06, p ¼ .086) than high-SOI participants who did not have casual sex (Figure 3) . Among low-SOI participants, those who had casual sex did not differ significantly from those who did not have casual sex on self-esteem (B ¼ À0.10, SE ¼ 0.07, p ¼ .168), depression (B ¼ 0.13, SE ¼ 0.08, p ¼ .104), or anxiety (B ¼ 0.11, SE ¼ 0.07, p ¼ .130). There were no significant three-way interactions with gender or main effects of sociosexuality or casual sex in either set of analyses.