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Exploring Attitudes Toward "Sugar Relationships" Across 87 Countries: A Global Perspective on Exchanges of Resources for Sex and Companionship

Meskó N 1 , Kowal M 2 , Láng A 3 , Kocsor F 3 , Bandi SA 3 , Putz A 3 Show all authors , Sorokowski P 4 , Frederick DA 5 , García FE 6 , Aguilar LA 7 , Studzinska A 8 , Tan CS 9 , Gjoneska B 10 , Milfont TL 11 , Topcu Bulut M 12 , Grigoryev D 13 , Aavik T 14 , Boussena M 15 , Mattiassi ADA 16 , Afhami R 17 , Amin R 18 , Baiocco R 19 , Brahim H 20 , Can AR 21 , Carneiro J 22 , Çetinkaya H 23 , Chubinidze D 24 , Deschrijver E 25 , Don Y 26 , Dubrov D 27 , Duyar I 28 , Jovic M 29 , Kamburidis JA 30 , Khan F 31 , Khun-Inkeeree H 32 , Koso-Drljevic M 33 , Lacko D 34 , Massar K 35 , Morelli M 36 , Natividade JC 37 , Nyhus EK 38 , Park JH 39 , Pazhoohi F 40 , Pirtskhalava E 41 , Ponnet K 42 , Prokop P 43 , Šakan D 44 , Tulyakul S 45 , Wang AH 46 , Aquino SD 37 , Atamtürk DD 28 , Burduli N 47 , Chirumbolo A 48 , Dural S 49 , Etchezahar E 50 , Ghahraman Moharrampour N 51 , Aczel B 52 , Kozma L 3 , Lins S 53 , Manunta E 54 , Marot T 55 , Mebarak M 56 , Miroshnik KG 57 , Misetic K 33 , Papadatou-Pastou M 58 , Bakos B 59 , Sahli FZ 60 , Singh S 38 , Solak Ç 61 , Volkodav T 62 , Wlodarczyk A 63 , Akello G 64 , Argyrides M 65 , Çoker O 66 , Galasinska K 67 , Gómez Yepes T 68 , Kobylarek A 69 , Landa-Blanco M 70 , Mayorga M 71 , Özener B 28 , Pacquing MCT 72 , Reyes MES 72 , Şahin A 27 , Tamayo-Agudelo W 73 , Topanova G 74 , Toplu-Demirtaş E 75 , Türkan BN 66 , Zumárraga-Espinosa M 76 , Grassini S 77 , Antfolk J 78 , Cornec C 79 , Pisanski K 4 , Stöckli S 80 , Eder SJ 81 , Han H 82

Affiliations 

  • 1 Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs, Pecs, 7624, Hungary. meskonorbert@me.com
  • 2 IDN Human Being Lab, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
  • 3 Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs, Pecs, 7624, Hungary
  • 4 Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
  • 5 Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
  • 6 Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
  • 7 School of Psychology, Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela
  • 8 Departament of Humanities, Icam, Toulouse, France
  • 9 Department of Psychology and Counselling, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Malaysia
  • 10 Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, North Macedonia
  • 11 School of Psychology, University of Waikato, Tauranga, New Zealand
  • 12 Clinical Addiction Research Unit, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
  • 13 Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation
  • 14 Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
  • 15 Departement of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Mohamed Lamine Debaghine, University Setif2, Setif, Algeria
  • 16 Department of Education, Languages, Interculture, Literatures and Psychology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
  • 17 Department of Art Studies, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
  • 18 Department of Professional Psychology, Bahria University, Islamabad, Pakistan
  • 19 Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • 20 Idepartment of Sociologie, University of Ibn Tofail, Kenitra, Morocco
  • 21 Department of Anthropology, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey
  • 22 Department of Social Psychology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  • 23 Department of Psychology, Yaşar University, İzmir, Turkey
  • 24 Psychological Set Research and Correction Center, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 25 Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  • 26 School of Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia
  • 27 HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation
  • 28 Department of Anthropology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 29 Department of Marketing Management and Public Relations, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 30 Department of General, Experimental and Genetic Psychology, Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 31 Institute of Education & Research, Women University Mardan, Mardan, Pakistan
  • 32 Psychology and Counselling, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani, Thailand
  • 33 Department of Psychology, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • 34 Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
  • 35 Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
  • 36 Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • 37 Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 38 Department of Management, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
  • 39 Department of Child and Family Studies, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
  • 40 Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  • 41 Department of Psychology, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 42 Faculty of Social Sciences, Imec-Mict-Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  • 43 Department of Environmental Ecology and Landscape Management, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 44 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Legal and Business Studies Dr Lazar Vrkatić, Union University, Novi Sad, Serbia
  • 45 Department of Health and Physical Education, Thaksin University, Songkhla, Thailand
  • 46 Political Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
  • 47 Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 48 Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • 49 Department of Psychology, Izmir University of Economics, İzmir, Turkey
  • 50 Education Universidad Internacional de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
  • 51 School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • 52 Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 53 Departament of Psychology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  • 54 CLLE, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
  • 55 Department of Administration, Getúlio Vargas Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 56 Department of Psychology, Universidad del Norte, Puerto Colombia, Colombia
  • 57 Department of Psychology, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
  • 58 Department of Primary Education, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
  • 59 ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 60 Institute of Sports Professions, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra, Morocco
  • 61 Department of Psychology, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey
  • 62 Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russian Federation
  • 63 Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
  • 64 Mental Health, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda
  • 65 Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos, Cyprus
  • 66 Department of Psychology, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey
  • 67 Department of Psychology, Center For Research On Biological Basis of Social Behavior, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
  • 68 Department of Education, International University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
  • 69 Institute of Pedagogy, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
  • 70 School of Psychological Sciences, National Autonomous University of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
  • 71 Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador-Ambato, Ambato, Ecuador
  • 72 Department of Psychology, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines
  • 73 Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia
  • 74 Department of Theoretical and Practical Psychology, Kazakh National Women's Pedagogical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
  • 75 Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Mef University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 76 Carrera de Psicología, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Quito, Ecuador
  • 77 Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
  • 78 Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
  • 79 ENES Bioacoustics Research Lab, CRNL, CNRS, Insern, University of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
  • 80 Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 81 Department of Neurosciences and Developmental Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  • 82 Educational Psychology Program, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
Arch Sex Behav, 2024 Feb;53(2):811-837.
PMID: 38127113 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-023-02724-1

Abstract

The current study investigates attitudes toward one form of sex for resources: the so-called sugar relationships, which often involve exchanges of resources for sex and/or companionship. The present study examined associations among attitudes toward sugar relationships and relevant variables (e.g., sex, sociosexuality, gender inequality, parasitic exposure) in 69,924 participants across 87 countries. Two self-report measures of Acceptance of Sugar Relationships (ASR) developed for younger companion providers (ASR-YWMS) and older resource providers (ASR-OMWS) were translated into 37 languages. We tested cross-sex and cross-linguistic construct equivalence, cross-cultural invariance in sex differences, and the importance of the hypothetical predictors of ASR. Both measures showed adequate psychometric properties in all languages (except the Persian version of ASR-YWMS). Results partially supported our hypotheses and were consistent with previous theoretical considerations and empirical evidence on human mating. For example, at the individual level, sociosexual orientation, traditional gender roles, and pathogen prevalence were significant predictors of both ASR-YWMS and ASR-OMWS. At the country level, gender inequality and parasite stress positively predicted the ASR-YWMS. However, being a woman negatively predicted the ASR-OMWS, but positively predicted the ASR-YWMS. At country-level, ingroup favoritism and parasite stress positively predicted the ASR-OMWS. Furthermore, significant cross-subregional differences were found in the openness to sugar relationships (both ASR-YWMS and ASR-OMWS scores) across subregions. Finally, significant differences were found between ASR-YWMS and ASR-OMWS when compared in each subregion. The ASR-YWMS was significantly higher than the ASR-OMWS in all subregions, except for Northern Africa and Western Asia.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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