Hypersexuality, Higher Rates of Intercourse, Masturbation, Sexual Fantasy, and Early Sexual Interest Relate to Higher Sexual Excitation/Arousal

Walton, Cantor, Bhullar, and Lykins (2017a, b) put forward the sexhavior cycle to explain diverse patterns of human sexual arousal and sexual behavior (Fig. 1):

The sexhavior cycle suggests that human sexual behavior comprises four distinct and sequential stages described as sexual urge, sexual behavior, sexual satiation, and post-sexual satiation. Sexual urge refers to a motivational state, biological drive, and psychological or emotional desire (or need) to engage in sexual behavior. When sexual urges occur, a person’s sexual arousal increases and translates into sexual activity, unless the urge is sometimes resisted, suppressed, or dissipated. A sexual urge may occur suddenly, is experienced with varying levels of intensity and differs widely in its frequency, duration, and speed with which it variously leads to sexual activity. Sexual behavior refers to the type of sexual interest and activity undertaken. Sexual satiation occurs when an individual’s sexual urge is either satisfied or represents the point at which it begins to dissipate and one’s internal motivation for continued sexual activity begins to decline. Post-sexual satiation describes the neurobiological processes that follow sexual satiation and by which a person’s sexual arousal declines and returns to a state when an individual is no longer sexually aroused. (Walton et al., 2017a, p. 2242)

The four-stage sexhavior model recognizes that people differ in the intensity and frequency with which they experience sexual arousal and engage in sexual activity. An individual’s sexhavior cycle may also vary in response to changing personal, family, social, occupational, educational, and other life circumstances, stressors, and responsibilities. Taken together, some individuals experience infrequent sexual urges and engage in low rates of sexual behavior (Bogaert, 2004; Brotto, Knudson, Inskip, Rhodes, & Erskine, 2010; Walton, Lykins, & Bhullar, 2016a), whereas others experience frequent sexual urges and engage in high rates of sexual behavior which they attribute as hypersexuality (Walton, Lykins, & Bhullar, 2016b). Notwithstanding research has also found that some individuals interpret their sexual behavior as hypersexual when personal rates of sexual activity are comparable to rates found in the general population (Cantor et al., 2013; Grubbs, Stauner, Exline, Pargament, & Lindberg, 2015; Walton et al., 2016b).