In the modern Western societies, monogamous relationships are predominant and mostly desired form of intimate partnership arrangements ( Dindia and Emmers-Sommer, 2006 Finkel et al., 2014 Impett et al., 2014).

This is well illustrated by a study that found that 10% of women have had three or more husbands by age 35 ( Cherlin, 2009).

Divorce and remarriage are not uncommon and are presented across cultures ( Fisher, 2011). One study has found that men have six to eight sexual partners and women report about four sexual partners by the age of forty-a indication that most people do not adhere to monogamy in its strictest sense ( Mosher et al., 2005). Although lifelong monogamy may be particularly beneficial from a risk-reduction perspective (e.g., it would decrease the chances of sexually transmitted infections), this form of monogamy is rare and represents about a quarter of population ( Conley et al., 2012b).

The umbrella term of monogamy includes both lifelong monogamous partnerships, meaning one sexual partner across the lifespan ( Pinkerton and Abramson, 1993) and serial monogamy, meaning several mutually monogamous, non-concurrent partners across the lifespan ( Pinkerton and Abramson, 1993 Fisher, 2011). Fisher (2011) adds that although polygyny, a practice of mating with multiple wives ( Gould et al., 2008), is permitted in 72Р Р†Р вЂљРІР‚Сљ84% of human societies, only 5Р Р†Р вЂљРІР‚Сљ10% of men in these cultures actually have several wives simultaneously, which leads her to conclude that across the cultures the dominant pattern is to marry one person at a time.Р вЂќР вЂћlthough the concept of monogamy seems straightforward from the first sight, there is high degree of variation. Even as worldwide marriage rates have declined, still 85Р Р†Р вЂљРІР‚Сљ90% of modern Americans intend to get married ( Cherlin, 2009) and European marriage rates are in a similar range, especially if Р Р†Р вЂљРЎС™consensual unionsР Р†Р вЂљРЎСљ (a Р Р†Р вЂљРЎС™marriage-likeР Р†Р вЂљРЎСљ relationships) are taken into account ( Eurostat, 2015). Fisher (2011) states that pair bonding is universal for humans and most men and women are willing to get married. The study also revealed that there are differences in reasons to engage in sex among men and women, some of the differences are related to the relationship status (monogamous or non-monogamous), while others are universal for men or women irrespective of their monogamy status.Р вЂќР вЂћ relationship in which the explicit agreement or taken-for-granted rule is that there should not be any sexual or romantic relationships outside main partnership is called monogamous ( Richards and Barker, 2013). Non-monogamous respondents reported higher frequency to engage in sex for most reasons overall. While both monogamous and non-monogamous respondents reported to engage in sex with the same frequency for the reasons of sexual release and physical desirability of a partner, the research uncovered that non-monogamous respondents engage in sex significantly more often to seek new experiences, to boost self-esteem, to guard their mate, to have a specific kind of sex (such as anal, kink, or fetish) or to experience the thrill of the forbidden. Presented with 17 reasons to engage in sexual activity, the respondents rated the frequency with which they engage in sex for each reason. The research aim was to identify whether there are differences in self-reported reasons to engage in sexual activity between these two groups. This study compared motivations to engage in sex between monogamous and non-monogamous respondents ( n = 1,238, out of which 641 monogamous and 596 non-monogamous respondents women-47.4%, men-50.9%, other gender-1.7% age: M = 27.78 years, SD = 7.53, range = 18Р Р†Р вЂљРІР‚Сљ62).

Monogamy vs serial monogamy definition