Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41840193›Full record

ArticleArchives of sexual behavior2026

How Do People Maintain Consensual Non-Monogamy? An International Development and Validation of the Multiple Relationships Maintenance Scale.

Justin K Mogilski, Geoffrey F Miller, Peter K Jonason, Katarzyna Grunt-Mejer, Jaroslava Varella Valentova, Rhonda Balzarini, David L Rodrigues, Elisabeth Sheff, Laith Al-Shawaf, Zsófia Csajbók and 26 more

Abstract readValidation Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Archives of sexual behavior, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

36 authors.

Justin K MogilskiDepartment of Psychology, University of South Carolina Salkehatchie, Walterboro, SC, 29483, USA. justin.mogilski@gmail.com.ORCID 0000-0003-2870-8302
Geoffrey F MillerPsychology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Peter K JonasonPsychological Research Institute, Vizja University, Warsaw, Poland.
Katarzyna Grunt-MejerFaculty of Psychology and Law in Poznań, University SWPS, Poznań, Poland.
Jaroslava Varella ValentovaDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Rhonda BalzariniDepartment of Psychology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA.
David L RodriguesCentre for Psychology Research and Social Intervention, Iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Elisabeth Sheff, Portland, OR, USA.
Laith Al-ShawafDepartment of Psychology, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA.
Zsófia CsajbókDepartment of Psychology and Life Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.
Andrew G ThomasSchool of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
Tamas David-BarrettTrinity College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Cezar GiosanDepartment of Psychology, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania.
Daniel J KrugerJacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
David J LeySchool of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Justin J LehmillerThe Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Heath A SchechingerUniversity Health Services, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Amy C MoorsDepartment of Psychology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA.
Stefano CiaffoniDepartment of Psychology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA.
Leif Edward Ottesen KennairDepartment of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Stephen WhyteSchool of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Zuzana ŠtěrbováDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.
Klára BártováDepartment of Psychology and Life Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.
Ryan G Witherspoon, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Magdalena Żemojtel-PiotrowskaInstitute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Pavol ProkopFaculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Comenius University, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Virgil Zeigler-HillDepartment of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA.
David P SchmittDepartment of Psychology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
Adil S SarıbayDepartment of Psychology, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Magdalena LipnickaDepartment of Psychology, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland.
Ivana GoláňováDepartment of Psychology and Life Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.
Ezra HampikianDepartment of Psychology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
William CostelloDepartment of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Limor GottliebDepartment of Psychology, Brunel University London, London, UK.
Cory J CascalheiraDepartment of Counseling and Educational Psychology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA.
Michelle A LarvaINVEST Flagship Research Center/Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.

Funding

Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação 2020.00523.CEECINDOffice of the Vice President for Research, University of South Carolina 957822-20-53332
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Maintaining multiple intimate relationships entails some risks and complications beyond exclusive pair bonding (i.e., monogamy). Consensual non-monogamy (CNM; e.g., polyamory, swinging, or open relationships) allegedly reduces these risks and complications, but no one has tried to comprehensively document typical CNM risk management practices, nor analyzed the relationship outcomes of those who use these practices. We developed the Multiple Relationships Maintenance Scale (MRMS) to examine how engagement in common CNM practices predicts relationship quality among people with one or more partners. In Study 1, a community sample of people with CNM experience (N = 429) nominated the best practices for maintaining CNM. Responses were combined with theory-derived practices to create the MRMS. In Study 2, we administered the MRMS in three international online surveys (N = 4,290) to assess factor structure and construct validity. Factor analysis revealed nine practices: disclosure of one's extra-pair attractions to a partner, open communication about jealousy, compersion, willingness to care for unrelated children, shared extra-pair sexual experiences, partner (non)hierarchy, sexual health maintenance, thoughtful resource distribution among partners, and reputation management. Data from one of the three surveys (n = 871) showed that each practice had distinctive patterns of association with previous CNM experience, relationship and sexual satisfaction, partner investment and interdependence, and self-reported infidelity (i.e., how often extra-pair interactions feel to violate an existing relationship's agreements). We discuss how the MRMS may be used to study how people in CNM relationships maintain multiple intimate relationships.

Indexed as

Interpersonal RelationsSexual BehaviorSexual PartnersAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and QuestionnairesYoung AdultConsensual non-monogamyMultiple relationshipsRelationship maintenanceRelationship qualityRelationship satisfaction

Identifiers

PMID41840193
PMCPMC13048939

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.