ORIGINAL PAPER
Rebound Sex: Sexual Motives and Behaviors Following a
Relationship Breakup
Lindsay L. Barber
•
M. Lynne Cooper
Received: 21 July 2011 / Revised: 4 June 2013 / Accepted: 15 August 2013 / Published online: 20 December 2013
Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract The present study used a longitudinal, online diary
method to examine trajectories of psychological recovery and
sexual experience following a romantic relationship breakup
among 170 undergraduatestudents.Consistentwith popular
beliefs about rebound and revenge sex, having sex to cope
with distress and to get over or get back at the ex-partner were
elevated immediately following the breakup and then
declined over time, as did the probability of having sex with a
new partner. Also consistent with popular lore, those who
were ‘‘dumped’’ by their partners were more distressed and
angry and more likely to have sex to cope and to get back at or
get over their ex-partner. Finally, individuals who reported
having sex to cope with negative feelings or to get over their
ex-partner at the beginning of the study were more likely to
have sex with a stranger and to continue having sex with new
partners over time. Results were discussed in terms of widely
held but largely untested beliefs about rebound and revenge
sex.
Keywords Romantic relationships Á Breakup Á
Psychological recovery Á Sex motives Á Rebound sex Á
Revenge sex
Introduction
According to popular belief, people ‘‘on the rebound’’ are
emotionally vulnerable due to increased feelings of distress,
anger, and loss and diminished self-esteem that typically
accompany loss of a relationship partner. Consequently, they
may have sex to boost their self-esteem, to ease their pain and
loneliness, or to‘‘get over’’the breakup, a phenomenon known
as‘‘reboundsex.’’Alternatively, feelingsofheightened distress
and anger might instead (or also) cause one to have sex to
‘‘get back at’’the ex-partner, a phenomenon sometimes called
‘‘revenge sex.’’And finally, both rebound and revenge sex
are thought to be more common among those who were
‘‘dumped’’ or were in more committed or longer-lasting
relationships, presumably because relationship lossunder
such circumstances is more distressing.
Despite the widespread nature of these beliefs, almost no
scientific data exist on sexual experiences in the aftermath of a
romantic relationship breakup. Consider, for example, that entering
the terms ‘‘rebound sex’’ or ‘‘revenge sex’’ in the PsycINFO
search engine yielded 12 hits, of which only four were actu-
ally relevant whereas entering the same terms into the Google
search engine yielded nearly 18,000,000 total hits. Although
one cannot draw simple, straightforward conclusions based on
these results about the relative quantity of scientifically valid
information versus folk wisdom or speculation on these topics,
the sheer magnitude of difference in the number of hits suggests
that while beliefs about these phenomena abound, little actual
evidence exists. To address this evidentiary gap, the present
study examined feelings of distress, self-esteem, sexual motives
(i.e., the self-reported reasons why people have sex), and sexual
experiences following the breakup of a romantic relationship,
using a weekly online diary among a sample of 170 college
students who had recently broken up from a relationship.
Common Beliefs About Being on the Rebound
To gain insight into the nature of popular beliefs on rebound
and revenge sex, the top websites listed under each of the
L. L. Barber Á M. L. Cooper (&)
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri,
124 Psychology Building, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
e-mail: cooperm@missouri.edu
L. L. Barber
Ohio Department of Public Safety, Columbus, OH, USA
123
Arch Sex Behav (2014) 43:251–265
DOI 10.1007/s10508-013-0200-3
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