Lynn H C Gaertner, Jürgen Fuchshuber, Klaus Michael Reininger, Peer Briken
The role of mentalizing - the ability to understand one's own and other's mental states - for sexuality is insufficiently understood. Thus, this study examined the longitudinal associations between sexual mentalizing and sexual function, activity, satisfaction, as well as general mentalizing in a cross-lagged panel design. German-speaking adults (N = 2650 [n = 1191 women] at T1; N = 1769 [n = 799 women] at T2) completed online measures on general and sexual mentalizing ability, sexual function, interpersonal and autoerotic sexual activity, and sexual satisfaction twice, four months apart. Cross-lagged effects were analyzed in gender-stratified path models. Largely reciprocal associations emerged: Sexual mentalizing predicted sexual function and interpersonal sexual activity in both genders, with significant reversed effects indicating reciprocal influences. Sexual mentalizing did not predict sexual satisfaction, while the reversed effect was significant in both genders. Among women, sexual mentalizing and autoerotic sexual activity were reciprocally associated, suggesting greater introspective involvement in women's autoerotic activity. General mentalizing predicted sexual mentalizing only in men, while sexual mentalizing predicted general mentalizing in both genders, suggesting gender-specific developmental pathways. Findings highlight mentalizing as an important psychological ability shaping sexual function and behavior over time and signal the potential of mentalization-based approaches for improving sexual health.