Sexual Coercion, Mate Retention, and Relationship Satisfaction in Brazilian and American Romantic Relationships

We investigated the relationships among men's sexual coercion, men's performance of mate retention behaviors, and their partner's relationship satisfaction in Brazil (Study 1) and the United States (Study 2). In addition, we adapted the Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationships Scale (SCIRS) to the Brazilian context (Escala de Coerção Sexual em Relacionamentos Amorosos [ECSRA]; Study 1) and investigated the suitability of the adapted version in the American context (Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationships Scale-Short Form [SCIRS-SF]; Study 2). Study 1 included 181 Brazilians, aged between 18 and 49 years (M = 23.5; SD = 5.1), mostly female (60.8%). Study 2 included 508 Americans, aged between 19 and 70 years (M = 34.7; SD = 9.7), mostly male (52.6%). Participants were in a heterosexual, romantic relationship for at least 3 months. Participants completed the SCIRS, a 34-item measure assessing how often participants experienced each sexually coercive behavior, the MRI-SF, a 38-item measure assessing how often participants performed each mate retention act, and several items regarding relationship satisfaction. The results indicated that American (but not Brazilian) men's sexual coercion is positively correlated with their performance of cost-inflicting and benefit-provisioning mate retention behaviors. Men's sexual coercion did not affect their partner's relationship satisfaction in either the American or Brazilian contexts. The SCIRS-SF (nine items) reliably represents the SCIRS (34 items) in the American context. We recommend the SCIRS-SF for assessing performance frequency of sexual coercion. The SCIRS-SF may be used as a screening tool to identify patterns of sexual coercion in couples from Brazil and the United States. We highlight limitations of the current research and identify directions for future research.