Promiscuity tends to be frowned upon by many societies that expect most members to have committed, long-term relationships. Among women, as well as men, inclination for sex outside committed relationships is correlated with a high libido; however, evolutionary biology, as well as social and cultural factors, have also been observed to influence sexual behavior and opinion.

Studies have related sociosexual orientation to sex drive, especially in women, where the higher the sex drive the less restricted the sociosexual orientation, or interest in sex outside committed relationships. Nevertheless, pertaining to the nature and nurture debate, there is some data emphasizing cultural factors, more so for women than for men. One review assessed that sociosexuality was affected almost equally by heredity and environment unshared with siblings; shared environment had relatively little effect.

Men tend to have higher sociosexuality scores and be more unrestricted than women across a variety of cultures. However, there is more variability in scores within each gender than between men and women, indicating that although the average man is less restricted than the average woman, individuals may vary in sociosexual orientation regardless of gender.

Body esteem in women showed a significant positive correlation with sociosexual unrestrictedness. So did hip-to-waist ratio and two measures of virilization. Finally, still in the same study, alcohol consumption correlated, too, but it is unclear whether the latter promoted the former or vice versa, or if a third variable was at play.

Bisexual women tend to be less restricted in their sociosexual attitudes than both homo- and heterosexual women. In sociosexual behavior also, bisexual women reported being more unrestricted, followed by homo- and then heterosexual women.

Social power has been popularly associated with sexual infidelity among men; experimental psychologists have linked power with sexual infidelity among women also. A Dutch study involving a large survey of 1,561 professionals, concluded that "The relationship between power and infidelity was the same for women as for men, and for the same reason. These findings suggest that the common assumption (and often-found effect) that women are less likely than men to engage in infidelity is, at least partially, a reflection of traditional gender-based differences in power that exist in society."

Church-attending women score lower on promiscuity than other women, while men appear to lack this correlation.

Men and women leading polyandrous lifestyles have higher levels of testosterone. However, it is unclear whether higher levels of testosterone cause increased sex drive and in turn multiple partners or whether sexual activity with multiple partners causes the increase in testosterone. Sociosexuality in women is positively correlated with two measures of prenatal exposure to androgens—right digit ratio, and scores on the Vandenberg Mental Rotation test—providing some limited support to the virilization hypothesis of female promiscuity (see also Prenatal hormones and sexual orientation). The aforementioned hypothesis is not at all mutually exclusive with other hypotheses.