You have full access to this open access article. Sexual well-being plays an important role in the quality of life. Against this background, we provide an economics-based approach to the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and various dimensions of sexuality. From a theoretical viewpoint, personality influences sexual well-being not only by how a person feels about sex, but also by how the person behaves in a sexual relationship. Personality shapes information sharing about sexual preferences, the way dissonant sexual preferences of the partners are handled, and the extent to which a person is committed to promises made to a partner.
The opposite holds true for neuroticism. While extraversion and openness to experience help realize a mutually beneficial sex life, we find no evidence that they have a commitment value.
On the contrary, extraversion is associated with lower commitment to the partner. Agreeableness contributes to higher commitment. However, agreeableness appears to make people more reluctant to express their sexual needs and desires. Sex is an essential component of romantic relationships and quality of life. As suggested by a time diary study conducted by Kahneman et al.
Sexual well-being is associated with relational satisfaction, relationship stability, and happiness in general Blanchflower and Oswald ; Cheng and Smyth ; Laumann et al. Sexual well-being is also of high political interest. The World Health Organization emphasizes that improving sexual health i. The importance of sex for quality of life gives rise to the question of which factors influence sexual well-being.
Our analysis addresses this question by examining the influence of the Big Five personality traits extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism on various key dimensions of sexuality.
