The Effects of Body Esteem and Self-Consciousness on Frequency of Sexual Behavior Holly Heindselman Rachel Yates

Hanover College 2008

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).

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).

Research Question

 How does the way in which men and women feel about their bodies (body esteem) affect their sexual behavior?

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

Results

 Gender differences: 4 3.5

3 2.5

2 1.5

1 0.5

0 Body Esteem Sexual Self Consciousness Men Women

Results

-no significant main effects or interactions involving gender, sexual orientation, or marital status at

p

< .05.

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

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

Questions?