Sexual communication is a pivotal part of interpersonal relationships; recent research reveals associations between sexual communication and various relational outcomes. Within the broad domain of sexual communication, current scholarship specifically addresses the role of postsex communication in relationships and its links to physiological and genetic markers. Given these advancements, the present chapter offers an overview of research linking physiology, hormones, and genes to communication after sexual activity. The chapter first presents reviews of two key hormones in sexual communication research: testosterone (T) and oxytocin (O). The oxytocin receptor gene and its link to social behavior broadly, and sexual behavior specifically, is also explored. The chapter then offers a review of several theories relevant to understanding the hormonal underpinnings of sexual communication, as well as future directions for research exploring sexual communication and physiology.
Neural correlate of autistic-like traits and a common allele in the oxytocin receptor gene
