ArticleArchives of sexual behavior2013
Examining the possible functions of kissing in romantic relationships.
Article in Archives of sexual behavior, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Compensatory Effects of Affectionate Communication in Marriages with Infrequent Sexual Activity.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- A comparative approach to the evolution of kissing.Evolution and human behavior : official journal of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society · 2026Article
- Mate assessment based on physical characteristics: a review and reflection.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Sexual and Affectionate Behaviors and Satisfaction for Adults in Romantic Relationships: A Latent Profile Analysis.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Article
- Can a kiss conquer all? The predictive utility of idealized first kiss beliefs on reports of romantic love among U.S. adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Article
- National income inequality predicts cultural variation in mouth to mouth kissing.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Never Been Kissed: Correlates of Lifetime Kissing Status in U.S. University Students.Archives of sexual behavior · 2018Article
- Latent classes of sexual behaviors: Prevalence, predictors, and consequences.Sexuality research & social policy : journal of NSRC : SR & SP · 2017Article
- Stay or stray? Evidence for alternative mating strategy phenotypes in both men and women.Biology letters · 2015Article
- What's in a kiss? The effect of romantic kissing on mating desirability.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior · 2014Article
- Shaping the oral microbiota through intimate kissing.Microbiome · 2014Article
- Menstrual cycle effects on attitudes toward romantic kissing.Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Recent research suggests that romantic kissing may be utilized in human sexual relationships to evaluate aspects of a potential mate's suitability, to mediate feelings of attachment between pair-bonded individuals, or to facilitate arousal and initiate sexual relations. This study explored these potential functions of romantic kissing by examining attitudes towards the importance of kissing in the context of various human mating situations. The study involved an international online questionnaire, which was completed by 308 male and 594 female participants aged 18-63 years. Support was found for the hypothesis that kissing serves a useful mate-assessment function: women, high mate-value participants, and participants high in sociosexual orientation placed greater importance on kissing in romantic relationships and stated that an initial kiss was more likely to affect their attraction to a potential mate than did men, low-mate value participants or low sociosexual orientation participants. Kissing also seemed to be utilized in the mediation of pair-bond attachments: kissing was seen to be more important at established stages of relationships by low sociosexual participants, kissing was generally seen as more important in long-term relationship contexts (but particularly so by women), and kissing frequency was found to be related to relationship satisfaction. The findings of this research showed very little evidence to support the hypothesis that the primary function of kissing is to elevate levels of arousal.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.