Relationship Status as an Influence on Cybersex Activity: Cybersex, Youth, and Steady Partner

The authors focus on the influence of participants’ having or not having a steady partner when reference to cybersex use. Participants were 1,239 young, Spanish individuals who completed the Internet Sex Screening Test. Results showed the influence of being in a relationship on certain consumption dimensions of cybersex; the influence was found to be greater in men than in women. In general, cybersex activity was higher for single participants, although it was also significant for participants with a steady partner. The authors’ findings facilitate the comprehension of the effect of new technologies in intimate human relationships.

Engaging in cybersex, similar to using the Internet for sexually gratifying activities (Cooper & Griffin-Shelley, 2002), is a phenomenon that is becoming more relevant, especially in light of new technologies. The motivations for taking part in cybersex are diverse. For some people, cybersex is yet another way to experience pleasure (self-experience of satisfaction caused by psychological or physical stimulation or a combination of both) or an alternative to satisfying sexual desire (motivational state required to enjoy the sexual activity and to motivate the attention and response to erotic stimulus) when they do not have a physical partner. For others, cybersex offers the possibility of meeting someone with whom to have online or offline sexual practices, to establish romantic relationships, or to enjoy their sexuality freely (Cooper, Mänsson, Daneback, Tikkanen, & Ross, 2003). Between 33% and 60% of Internet users participate in online sexual activities (Cooper et al., 2003;Daneback, Cooper, & Mänsson, 2005;Shaughnessy, Byers, & Walsh, 2011).
One would assume that there is higher cybersex use by single people to satisfy their sexual needs, because of an absence of possible offline sexual relationships. Nevertheless, the conventional model of a monogamous relationship seems to be inadequate in explaining the diversity of interests and sexual tendencies in the human population (Brandon, 2011). There is the likelihood that there would be some people with a steady partner who would participate in cybersex. For example, they could enjoy sexual interests or desire not satisfied by their partners or they could just obtain self-pleasure. These cybersex activities may cause serious consequences for the relationship associated with being unfaithful.
Cybersex is a new way in which people with a steady partner may satisfy, in different manners, their sexual desire. The number of people who engage in cybersex to obtain sexual or emotional stimulation outside a monogamous relationship is increasing (Merkle & Richardson, 2000). In this sense, Maheu (2001) noticed that 72% of participants knew someone (either male or female) engaging in online sexual relations, despite having an offline relationship.
The influence of having a steady partner on cybersex has been barely studied and is in line with two main perspectives. First, certain studies have focused on what kind of online sexual activities would be identified as infidelity (concept of online infidelity). Second, there are also relevant studies about some consequences for the deceived partner and the general relationship (consequences of online infidelity).

Concept of Online Infidelity
In real life, the infidelity description and the difference between sexual and emotional infidelity is relatively clear. People who are in a relationship usually define infidelity as the act of maintaining sexual relations with a person other than the steady partner (sexual infidelity) or falling in love with the other person (emotional infidelity; Buss & Haselton, 2005).
However, noticing this difference in the sexual Internet context is more difficult. Some online sexual activities by people in a relationship do not include other users, such as isolated cybersex (e.g., reading erotic stories while they are masturbating). However, in social cybersex, there is an interaction with others users that could be sexual (e.g., reproducing fantasies on chat or via webcam) or emotional (online emotional relationships). The geographical distance that characterizes any type of cybersex practice and, consequently, the nonexistence of physical interaction, complicate the identification of these practices as transgression (Underwood & Findlay, 2004).
Several researchers have tried to classify what types of sexual activities are considered infidelity when people have an offline steady partner. Whitty (2003), studying the meaning of infidelity among 1,117 people, supported the existence of three types of online infidelity: emotional infidelity (e.g., friendship and emotional intimacy with other users), sexual infidelity (e.g., sexual relations with other users through chat or webcam), and online pornography viewed (e.g., viewing pornographic films, reading erotic stories). The threat perceived was higher for online emotional and sexual infidelity as opposed to online pornography viewed, although all of them were smaller than the threat perceived for offline infidelity (Whitty, 2003(Whitty, , 2005. Women had a greater perceived threat in emotional infidelity, whereas men had a greater perceived threat in online sexual infidelity (Whitty & Quigley, 2008). Henline, Lamke, and Howard (2007) supported Whitty's (2003) finding in a study among 123 young people. Thus, the online sexual activity more identified as infidelity was the "sexual infidelity" termed by Whitty (2003, p. 574). This infidelity was followed by friendship or emotional implication and innuendo (emotional infidelity) and viewing pornography. In this study, regardless of participants' gender, between 60 and 82% of participants reported more distress associated with emotional infidelity as opposed to sexual infidelity or pornography use.

Consequences of Online Infidelity
Even if most of the recreational cybersex users do not usually report the negative consequences (Cooper, Delmonico, & Burg, 2000;Velezmoro, Negy, & Livia, 2011), this may, for individuals who are in a relationship, cause serious damage, such as marital deterioration, partner distress, or divorce (Barak & Fisher, 2002). Schneider, Weiss, and Samenow (2012) found 35 cybersex users' partners who reported the negative effect of sexual Internet use by their partners. Most of them reported feeling devastated, aggrieved, and betrayed. Their perceived physical appearance and self-esteem also deteriorated, and all of them lost trust in their partners. The couples' sexual lives also declined as a consequence of online sexual relations. In particular, Schneider (2003) revealed a reduction of sexual desire in the user's partner or cybersex user because of online sexual activity. In this situation, a decrease of sexual desire was frequent for partners of users (16%), users (34%), or both (18%). Only in approximately 32% of couples did none of partners feel a decrease of sexual desire.

Online Sexual Behavior of People With a Steady Partner
Most of the studies on the influence of having or not a steady partner on cybersex activity have been usually focused on antecedents (attitudes) or online infidelity consequences (Hertlein & Weeks, 2011). Therefore, there are fewer studies regarding characteristics of cybersex among people in a steady relationship.
The few studies related to the influence of sentimental condition on specific cybersex behaviors show diverse results. Some of them have revealed higher percentages of cybersex users among single individuals than among those in a steady relationship (Cooper, Griffin-Shelley, Delmonico, & Mathy, 2001;Daneback et al., 2005). As a consequence, the supported hypothesis would be "if people satisfy their sexual desire with a partner, they do not resort to cybersex practices." However, recent studies observe how married people report more probability (until five times) of searching sexual or sentimental online relations than singles (Albright, 2008). Dew, Brubaker, and Hays (2006) concluded, after an evaluation of 508 married heterosexual men, the common use of cybersex was for isolated sexual purposes, social sexual purposes, or for a search for offline relationships. However, the characteristics of the sample make difficult to generalize the results. In any case, these findings might reveal the contradiction between online infidelity conception and online behaviors.
In Spain, there are almost no studies that have focused on the cybersex experience. One exception was developed by Ballester, Gil, Ruiz, and Castro (under review). However, this research does not analyze the role of offline relationships in cybersex activity. Considering the diversity of results in the international scientific literature, which is deficient in Spain, the purpose of this article was to analyze possible differences in cybersex prevalence between people who were and who were not in a steady relationship. Moreover, this study considered whether gender played a modulating role in this relation.

METHOD Participants
Participants were 1,239 young Spanish individuals. All of them belonged to the middle-class and were located in urban areas, and 64.3% of them were women. The participants' ages ranged between 18 and 25 years (M = 20.37, SD = 2.04). In addition, 95.5% of them identified themselves as heterosexual, 3.1% as bisexual, and 1.4% as homosexual. All of them were studying in different departments of the public colleges from where they were recruited (Universidad Jaume I de Castellón and Universidad de Valencia). The percentages of being or not being in a steady relationship were similar (53.5% and 46.5%, respectively), although most of them were living with their families or house mates.
To homogenize the sample and improve the reliability of the results, we excluded participants younger than 18 years of age and those older than 25 years. We also excluded participants who were not studying at college, who do not have access to computer easily, or who did not complete the whole instrument.

Outcome Measure
For the participant's evaluation, we used two instruments.

Ad Hoc Questionnaire
We designed the ad hoc questionnaire for this study; it examined information associated with demographical variables (sex, age, and studies), sexual life (sexual orientation, same-sex relations, steady partner, frequency of sexual activity, specific sexual behaviors, and frequency of pornography use different from cybersex), and use and Internet access (accessing computer at home, number of hours being online in the last week, and number of hours they go online for sexual pursuits in the last week).

Internet Sex Screening Test
This test was adapted and validated for a Spanish population (Ballester, Gil, Gómez, & Gil, 2010); we considered the original version by Delmonico (1997). This test includes 25 true/false items to determine whether online sexual behavior is a problem. Regarding psychometrical attributes, Ballester and colleagues (2010) revealed an internal consistency of 0.88 and a test-retest reliability of 0.84.
This questionnaire offers a global index of cybersex addiction and a result for five factors: 1. Online sexual compulsivity ("COMPULS"): feeling out of control and other pathological indicators (e.g., frequency of use, interference, severity perceived). 2. Online sexual behavior-isolation noncompulsive ("COSOL"): isolating forms of cybersex (searching explicit sexual material such as online films, images, or stories) and using these materials for sexual purposes. This factor includes behaviors, which are termed online infidelity, seen as someone using pornography while being in an offline relationship (Whitty, 2003). 3. Online sexual behavior-social ("COSOC"): cybersex being in interaction with other online users (e.g., sexual chats, sexual meetings via webcam, innuendos with others while online) and the possibility of moving that relationship to offline. This factor refers to behaviors that are identified by Whitty (2003, p. 574) as "emotional online infidelity" (e.g., "I have taken part in sexual chats"). 4. Online sexual spending ("GASTO"): economical investment in online sexual behavior (e.g., having paid up membership in sexual sites). 5. Seriousness perceived of online sexual behavior ("PERGRA"): self-perception of cybersex as a problem or not.

Procedure
The instruments were applied in a university campaign to raise cybersex addiction awareness organized by UNISEXSIDA (Research Unit on Sexuality and AIDS, Universitat Jaume I, Spain) and developed in different campuses. To provide basic information about this problem, various information tables were set up on campus so students could learn about the research objectives, in this case, about cybersex addiction. Then, we explained our main purpose to study the cybersex phenomenon among young people and offered students the opportunity to collaborate in this project, altruistically. When they agreed, participants gave informed consent and filled out both questionnaires. So that we could control the possible effect of social desirability, participants completed the instruments anonymously and alone. Two psychologists helped them in case they had some doubt and to maintain their privacy.

Data Analysis
Considering previous studies which have already demonstrated the influence of gender on cybersex behaviors (Ballester et al., under review), we grouped data depending on this variable. To prevent this influence, first, this study compared men who were or were not in a relationship and, second, women who were or were not in a relationship. We used chi-square for categorical variables (items of the questionnaire) and t test for continuous variables (factors and total score).

Access and Use of Internet
First, we analyzed the main characteristics of Internet access and use. Most of the participants (98.6%) had a personal computer at home, which guaranteed the possibilities of accessing online material. The average amount of time spent in Internet was 8.85 hr (SD = 12.13) of which approximately 0.68 hr (SD = 4.66) were associated with visiting sexual sites specifically. In both cases, this large variance may be due to the important percentage of participants who scored high above this average. The larger part of the participants (90%) asserted access to cybersex only in the privacy of their homes.

Internet Sex Screening Test Subscales and General Index of Cybersex Addiction
As shown in Table 1, the general average scores for men and, in particular, for women are situated in lower score range. Specifically, men without a steady partner frequently exceeded men with a steady partner on the five subscales of cybersex and on the General Index of Cybersex Addiction. However, differences between both groups only revealed a statistical significance for online sexual behavior-social (t = -3.60, p < .001) and for the General Index of Cybersex Addiction (t = -2.41, p < .05).
Regarding average scores for women, those without steady partner did not show a clear tendency of having higher scores. This tendency was reversed for the COSOL dimension, in which women with a steady partner slightly exceeded the mean use of isolated cybersex for single women; however, there were no statistical differences. Only the average scores for COSOC dimension were higher for women without a steady partner (X = 1.19) than for women who were in a relationship (X = 0.91) and obtained statistical significance (t = −3.08, p < .01).

Prevalence of Behavior Identified as "Online Infidelity"
The following results refer to 10 items that are included in the Questionnaire of Cybersex Addiction, because their content is more related to behaviors identified as online infidelity by Whitty (2003) or Henline and colleagues (2007). As shown in Table 2, most of the behaviors have not revealed differences between men being or not being in a relationship. Nevertheless, in relation to behaviors defined as sexual infidelity, there were nearly twice as many men without steady partner who used humor and sexual innuendo with other users (41%) than men with a steady partner (22.7%), and this difference revealed statistical significance (χ 2 = 15.644, p < .001). Regarding behaviors defined as emotional infidelity, the percentage of single men who had met face-to-face somebody after meeting online for romantic purposes was also higher than in men who were in a relationship (χ 2 = 5.356, p < .05). Last, pornography use reveals a higher percentage for men without steady partner, who reported searching for sexual material on Internet (52.5%), than in men with a steady partner (41.5%). This difference is again statistically significant (χ 2 = 5.112, p < .05).
On the other hand, women's prevalence of online sexual behaviors was smaller than that of men. Moreover, behaviors defined as infidelity differences between women being or not being in a relationship are limited and there are only two regarding behaviors defined as sexual infidelity. First, the percentage of single women who participated in sexual chats (10.3%) exceeded that of women with a steady partner (4.4%) and obtained statistical differences (χ 2 = 10.262, p < .001). Likewise, the percentage of women with a steady partner using sense of humor and innuendo (16.2%) was smaller than for single women (25%). This difference also showed statistical relevance (χ 2 = 9.110, p < .01).

Prevalence of Hiding Online Sexual Behavior From Others
The Questionnaire of Cybersex Addiction refers to some behaviors about the intention of participants to hide their sexual activity through three items. In general, the percentages showed a noticeable frequency of hiding online sexual activity for men and women (see Table 3). Moreover, a participant's being or not being in a relationship had a scant influence on this item. It is remarkable the use of nicknames on the Internet, which is higher for single women (39.7%) than for women with a steady partner (28.9%). This reveals statistical differences (χ 2 = 9.943, p < .01). On the other hand, the prevalence of the other behaviors is always higher for men and women without a steady partner. Once again, men exceed women in the practice of these three behaviors.

Profile of Cybersex Use
To classify people depending on cybersex profile (recreational, risky, or pathological) the original authors of the Internet Sex Screening Test established some cutoff points (Carnes, Delmonico, & Griffin, 2007). Considering these cutoffs and the score of Global Index of Cybersex Addiction, we identified participants as recreational users (range = 0 to 8), risky users (range = 9 to 18), or pathological users/cybersex addicted (range = 19 to 25). Table 4 shows the recreational profile as the most frequent category for men and women who were or were not in a relationship, followed far behind by the risky users profile and, last, pathological users. In particular, men who were in a relationship showed a higher percentage of recreational use (86.9%) than did single men (79.8%), obtaining statistical differences for both percentages (χ 2 = 3.745, p < .05). Regarding risky use, which already represents an indicator of maladaptive cybersex, the differences were reversed. The percentage of single men was nearly twice that of men in a relationship (18.7% and 10.8%, respectively), showing statistical differences (χ 2 = 4.961, p < .05). Among women, the prevalence of recreational use was more frequent. Most of the women, in or not in a relationship (97.7% and 96.8%, respectively), were classified in this category. On the other hand, nearly 2.3% of women with a steady partner and 2.9% of single women were classified as risky users, and the proportion of women classified in the pathological profile is negligible. No woman in a relationship was found to use cybersex pathologically. In women, the scores did revealed statistical differences among these profiles regardless of having a steady partner.

DISCUSSION
The main purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of a steady partner on cybersex practice and its characteristics among young people (social or isolated behavior). In general, cybersex is frequent for participants both in and not in a relationship. In this context, having a steady partner seemed to diminish the total use of cybersex, but only some sexual activities revealed statistical significance. Moreover, gender played a main role in the steady partner influence.

Cybersex Use Among Women Who Are in a Relationship
According to the General Index of Cybersex Addiction, women in an offline relationship showed lower use of social cybersex. These women rarely engaged in activities with other users to get sexual stimulation or emotional closeness. However, other dimensions of cybersex (i.e., monetary spending) were not modulated by a steady partner. Therefore, the influence of a steady partner was limited for women, and our findings differ from past studies that have revealed higher cybersex use for women in a relationship (Albright, 2008).
Online sexual behavior, which differs between women in or not in a relationship, includes diverse items about sexual and emotional dimensions. In general, being in an offline relationship restricts the most sexual aspect of social cybersex but not other activities such as online pornographic use or sentimental interaction with other users. According to Whitty (2003), participating women who are in a relationship would practice less sexual infidelity but, in our study, they practiced two types of online infidelity: emotional infidelity (developing affective and emotional intimacy with other online users) and pornography viewed. In any case, these women who were in a relationship had rarely engaged in activities identified as a serious transgression (Henline et al., 2007;Whitty, 2003;Whitty & Quigley, 2008) for the steady relationship.
On the other hand, single women take part in some hidden behaviors (nickname instead of real name) more frequently than women being in a relationship. This is probably because women understand that these items of the questionnaire refer to everybody, not only their sentimental partner. For example, a woman in or not in a relationship could report "yes" in "trying to hide what I see on my computer from others." The first case because she is bearing in mind her husband and, in the second case, because she is considering her family in her answer.
Regarding consumption profiles, most of the women being or not being in a relationship reveal recreational use of cybersex. Taking part in an offline relation does not increase the probability of being classified in some consumer profile. These findings disagree with some studies among cybersex addicts in which the prevalence of cybersex for women with a steady partner or who were married was higher (Cooper et al., 2000;Schwartz & Southern, 2000).

Cybersex Among Men Being in a Relationship
Like women, men with offline partner practice Online Sexual Behavior-Social less frequently than single men but not for other dimensions of Internet Sex Screening Test. Results for men who were in or not in a relationship did not reveal differences in isolated cybersex, online sexual compulsivity, online sexual spending, or self-perceived seriousness of behavior. Contrary to women, there are statistical differences for the General Index of Cybersex Use. Our findings revealed less cybersex use for men in a relationship than for single men, although we cannot confirm the nonexistence of their cybersex. These results support similar use of cybersex between men in or not in a relationship or higher use for single men, which has been demonstrated (Cooper et al., 2001;Daneback et al., 2005) in similar cultural context (Sanabria, 2004).
On the other hand, the number of online sexual behaviors influenced by having a steady partner is higher for men than for women. For example, the percentage of men with offline partner reporting humor or innuendo use or searching sexual material on Internet is smaller than in the percentage for single men. These findings reveal more similarities to studies about online infidelity attitudes than in our results for women. According to Whitty's classification (2003) about online infidelity, our participants who were in a relationship have shown less frequency of behaviors for three dimensions (online sexual infidelity, online emotional infidelity, pornography). However, we should clarify why some behaviors decrease when young people start a relationship while other similar ones have not changed.
Contrary to our hypothesis, men who were in a relationship did not hide online sexual activity more than did single men. The frequency of cybersex use for men with a steady partner was certainly smaller than in single men, but we expected more prevalence for these behaviors (e.g., not notifying anybody about their use). In particular, anonymity is one of the most eye-catching cybersex characteristics for taking part in relationships outside of the steady partner (Weiss & Schneider, 2006).
The lower prevalence of men with a steady partner who have a risky cybersex profile is another interesting finding. Men who were in a relationship tended to use recreational cybersex, whereas risky use was more frequent for single men. This result is relevant when considering the need of a comprehensive clinical evaluation and even a preventive intervention for pathological use in these risky users (Carnes, Delmonico, & Griffin, 2007). In this sense, our results suggest the protective influence of being in a relationship when considering the development of a risky profile, which could turn into a pathological profile. However, studies on pathological users have revealed differing results. For example, Cooper and colleagues (2000) supported the existence of 55% pathological married users or with a steady partner whereas Schwartz and Southern (2000) increased this percentage to 58%.

Differences Between Men and Women Being in a Relationship
As we have noticed, the influence of steady partner on men and women is different and this effect is higher for men. In consequence, we could consider why being in a relationship restricts more men than women from having online sexual activities. Men (who were or were not in a relationship) always engaged more cybersex than did women (Ballester et al., under review;Cooper et al., 2000). It may be that men tend to stop their online sexual activity when they have a partner because they satisfy their sexual desire. On the other hand, women who engage in cybersex activities (a small percentage) might reveal a harder profile to change. Hence, if women cannot satisfy their sexual or emotional desire in their steady relationship, they would continue engaging in cybersex to seek gratification.
Moreover, women could engage in cybersex as a way to develop diverse sexual options with their partners. For example, this could be a strategy to develop diverse sexual options with their partners. Then, a woman without experience in cybersex would engage in it to improve her sexual life (Daneback, Traen, & Mänsson, 2009;Poulsen, Busby & Galovan, 2012). In this sense, the small difference of use between women who were or were not in a relationship would be clarified. Moreover, we could explain two results that differ from expected outcomes. First, this hypothesis supports the slightly larger scores of women with a steady partner for isolated use (online pornography), although there are no statistical differences with single women. Second, this may be the reason because men and women in a relationship do not hide their online sexual activity more frequently than do single people.

Limitations and Future Research
These findings should be considered in view of some limitations. For example, the origin of our participants (young university students) makes it difficult to extrapolate these results for a young, Spanish population. However, the percentage of young, Spanish people studying in colleges or universities is higher than the European average (Ministerio de Educación, 2009). Therefore, this supports the representative characteristics of our sample. On the other hand, the questionnaire (Internet Sex Screening Test) includes restricted cybersex behaviors and limited length of time (1 week), although this would be enough to collect the information. In addition this instrument has been already validated in our context. Hence, this would support its viability and validity.
Nevertheless, this article offers evidence to improve our knowledge about the offline steady partner role for taking part in online sexual activities. To approach new future research, we would examine diverse directions. On the one hand, because our findings differ from past studies, we should clarify whether young Spanish people identify online sexual activities as infidelity. On the other hand, examining the role of some variables such as the length of relationship or dispositional variables (e.g., sexual compulsivity, erotophobia-erotophilia) would be required to comprehend this phenomenon more carefully.