In several recent papers the sex difference in regret predicted by sexual strategies theory has been supported: men more than women report regret passing up short-term sexual opportunities (inaction regret), while women regret having had sexual encounters (action regret). However, the adaptive function of regret, to improve future behavioral choices, has not been tested. In this first longitudinal test of behavioral change following regret, we consider whether regret actually results in adaptive shifts of behavior: will men who regret passing up sex engage in more short-term sex following regret? Will women who regret short-term encounters either choose better quality partners, reduce number of one-night stands or shift their strategy to long-term relationships? Across two waves (NT1 = 399, 65.4% women and NT2 = 222, 66.2% women) students responded to questions about casual sex action regret and inaction regret, along with possible outcomes, intrapersonal traits, and concurrent contextual predictors. There was no clear evidence for the proposed functional shifts in sexual behavior. Casual sex regret was associated with respondent sex and stable individual differences, such as sociosexual attitudes, regret processing and metacognitions, but the effect of these predictors were not consistent across the two waves. Among the tested concurrent contextual predictors, sexual disgust was the most consistent across waves. Regret is considered a gauge of the value and quality of the short-term sexual encounter. However, tentatively we conclude that after this first test of function using longitudinal data, we find no evidence of a mating strategy shifting effect following sexual regret.

在最近的几篇论文中，性策略理论预测的后悔的性别差异得到了支持：男性比女性更多地表示后悔放弃短期性机会（不作为后悔），而女性则后悔发生过性行为（行动后悔）。然而，后悔改善未来行为选择的适应性功能尚未经过测试。在后悔后行为改变的第一个纵向测试中，我们考虑后悔是否真的会导致行为的适应性转变：后悔放弃性行为的男性会在后悔后进行更短期的性行为吗？那些后悔短期遭遇的女性会选择更优质的伴侣，减少一夜情的数量，还是将策略转向长期关系？在两波中（NT1 = 399，65.4% 女性，NT2 = 222，66.2% 女性），学生回答了有关随意性行为后悔和不作为后悔的问题，以及可能的结果、内在特征和并发情境预测因素。没有明确的证据表明所提出的性行为功能转变。随意性行为后悔与受访者性别和稳定的个体差异相关，例如社会性态度、后悔处理和元认知，但这些预测因素的效果在两次浪潮中并不一致。在测试的并发上下文预测变量中，性厌恶在各波次中最为一致。后悔被认为是衡量短期性接触的价值和质量的标准。然而，我们初步得出结论，在使用纵向数据进行第一次功能测试后，我们没有发现任何证据表明性后悔后会产生交配策略转变效应。