Compulsive sexual behavior may be more state-like than trait-like: Findings from a three-year longitudinal representative survey

Horváth, Zsolt and Bőthe, Beáta and Potenza, Marc N. and Stein, Dan J. and Demirgül, Süleyman and Paksi, Borbála and Czakó, Andrea and Demetrovics, Zsolt (2026) Compulsive sexual behavior may be more state-like than trait-like: Findings from a three-year longitudinal representative survey. JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL ADDICTIONS, 15 (2). pp. 622-635. ISSN 2062-5871

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Abstract

Background and aims Studies regarding whether compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) shows a persistent or transient longitudinal course have been scarce and generated mixed findings, complicating its conceptualization. A model that includes both trait-like/stable and state-like/occasion-specific factors may clarify the course and nature of CSB. The authors aimed to determine the proportion of variance in CSB scores attributable to trait-like/stable and state-like/occasion-specific factors and examine the strength of autoregressive effects between successive state-like/occasion-specific factors. Methods Data from young adults (N = 782; women: 39.60% [N = 310]; age at wave 1: M = 27.06 [SD = 4.69]) showing continuous sexual activity from waves 1–4 of the representative Budapest Longitudinal Study were analyzed. CSB was measured with the eight-item Hypersexual Behavior Inventory. Results Latent growth modeling showed decreases in CSB over waves 1–4 across three years, following a non-linear (quadratic) trajectory (M [SE] = −0.26 [0.08]). A latent state-trait model with one CSB trait-like/stable factor and four state-like/occasion-specific residual factors (capturing time-specific fluctuations) had optimal fit (χ2 [df] = 653.667 [550], p = 0.002; CFI = 0.996; TLI = 0.997; RMSEA [90% CI] = 0.016 [0.011; 0.021]; SRMR = 0.075). High proportions of CSB score variance were attributable to state-like/occasion-specific factors (69–93%), while lower proportions of CSB scores were attributable to the trait-like/stable factor (7–31%). Additionally, positive, moderate-to-strong autoregressive effects were observed between successive state-like/occasion-specific factors, indicating short-term stability and carry-over across assessments (β [SE] = 0.36–0.65 [0.06–0.08]). Discussion and conclusions Overall, CSB is more likely to be a state-like phenomenon in young adults from the general population. Situational influences may explain the longitudinally fluctuating and transient course of CSB. Significant state-like/occasion-specific effects may have important implications for screening for and diagnosis of CSB disorder.

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