Decoding Hypersexuality: A Latent Profile Approach to Attachment, Self-Criticism, and Personality Disorders

Hypersexuality is defined by the presence of excessive sexual fantasies, urges, and behaviors. Several authors suggest that extensive use of sexuality might represent a coping strategy for negative affect, in the context of emotion regulation difficulties and insecure attachment styles. The current study focuses on identifying different profiles, based on attachment dimensions and on the tendency to use sexual activity as a coping mechanism, examining differences in self-criticism and pathological personality traits. A total of 562 participants from the general Italian population, with an average age of 30.81 years (SD = 12.54), completed the self-report questionnaires: Hypersexual Behavior Inventory, Attachment Style Questionnaire, Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Short Form, and Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale. Latent profile analysis and multivariate analyses of variance between profiles were performed. Three profiles, Secure without Sexual Coping, Insecure with Sexual Coping and Insecure without Sexual Coping, were identified, based on scores on the sex use subscale and in the insecure attachment dimensions. Significant differences emerged between the profiles: the Insecure with Sexual Coping profile was characterized by the highest levels in the Antagonism and Disinhibition domains of pathological personality, while the Insecure without Sexual Coping showed the highest levels in the dimensions of Inadequate Self, Reassured Self, and Negative Affect.