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The Effects of Body Esteem and Self-Consciousness on Frequency of Sexual Behavior

Holly Heindselman Rachel Yates Hanover College 2008. The Effects of Body Esteem and Self-Consciousness on Frequency of Sexual Behavior. Introduction. Low levels of body esteem is related to psychological disturbances:

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The Effects of Body Esteem and Self-Consciousness on Frequency of Sexual Behavior

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  1. Holly Heindselman Rachel Yates Hanover College 2008 The Effects of Body Esteem and Self-Consciousness on Frequency of Sexual Behavior

  2. Introduction • Low levels of body esteem is related to psychological disturbances: • Depression, social isolation, low self-esteem, etc. (Ackard, Kearney-Cooke, & Peterson, 1999). • Even after controlling for actual body size, approximately 1/3 of college student women experienced body-image self-consciousness during physical intimacy (Wiederman, 2000).

  3. Previous findings • Women who are satisfied with their body image have a higher frequency of sexual behavior and are more comfortable with sexual activities, than those who are dissatisfied (Ackard, Kearney-Cooke, & Peterson, 1999). • Body image is a predictor for comfort in undressing in front of a partner and comfort when having sex with the lights on (Ackard, Kearney-Cooke, & Peterson, 1999).

  4. Research Question • How does the way in which men and women feel about their bodies (body esteem) affect their sexual behavior?

  5. Method • 311 participants • Ages 18-57, Mean: 23 • 20.6% Male, 79.4% Female • 57 participants deleted: • Repetitive answers • Duplicate submission • Blanks on questionnaire • Under age of 18

  6. Measures • Predictor Variables: • Sexual Self-Consciousness • Body Esteem • Dependent Variable: • Frequency of Sexual Activity (Mercer & Kohn, 1979) • Light Petting (sexual touching over the clothes) • Heavy Petting (sexual touching under the clothes) • Oral Stimulation • Vaginal Intercourse

  7. Method • Online survey • Informed Consent • Demographics • Rouse- Pattison Sexual Behavior Survey • Body- Esteem Scale (Franzoi & Shields, 1984) • Sexual Self-Consciousness Questionnaire (Wiederman, 2000). • Debriefing Form

  8. Method • Rouse-Pattison Sexual Behavior Survey • Allowed to type the number of times and provided with a drop down menu to select per day/week/month/year. • Example light petting item: • Kissing (clothed) • Above waist fondling over clothes • Example heavy petting item: • Touching under the clothes above/below the waist

  9. Reliability • Cronbach’s Alpha • Light-petting: α= .78 • # of items: 7 • Heavy-petting: α= .79 • # of items: 2 • Oral Sex: α= .86 • # of items: 2 (Receiving and performing)

  10. Method • The Body-Esteem Scale (Franzoi & Shields, 1984) • 1(Strong neg. feelings)- 5(Strong positive feelings) • Rate Each body part/function (18 in all) • Ex. Body scent, appetite, lips, thighs , biceps

  11. Method • Sexual Self-Consciousness questionnaire • Examples: • I (would) feel very uncomfortable walking around the bedroom, in front of my partner, completely nude. • I (would) have a difficult time taking a shower or a bath with a partner. • I (would) feel anxious receiving a full-body massage from a partner. • Cronbach’s alpha: α= .93

  12. Hypotheses • Negative correlation between sexual self-consciousness and heavy petting • No correlation between light petting and sexual self-consciousness or light petting and body esteem • Positive correlation between body esteem and heavy petting

  13. Hypotheses (cont.) • Similar results for oral stimulation and sexual intercourse as for heavy petting • Larger effects for women in all of the sexual cases than for men

  14. Results • Gender differences:

  15. Results • -no significant main effects or interactions involving gender, sexual orientation, or marital status at p < .05.

  16. Discussion • Men scored lower on sexual self-consciousness and higher in body esteem • suggests men have a higher overall comfort with their bodies than women • Most important- the relationship between self-consciousness and behavior followed the trends expected • Absence of clothing does produce higher feelings of self-consciousness • Suggests that one’s feelings about their body can impact their sexual behavior

  17. Future Research • Report of # of times per year is likely overestimated by participants • Suggest doing a more concrete study that measures actual behavior as time goes on • Women oriented therapy in terms of body esteem • Investigate reasons why oral stimulation is less related to self-consciousness than other behaviors

  18. Questions?

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