Individuals who experience dissatisfaction with their weight, shape, and appearance are more likely to experience sexual anxiety, which in turn makes both them and their partners less likely to be satisfied with their sex life, according to a new study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.
“I’m passionate about this area of research for two related reasons,” said study author Marissa Bowsfield, a PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University and member of the SFU Close Relationships Research Lab.
“First, we know from both empirical evidence and common discourse that body image problems are very common, and they aren’t just a women’s issue — people of all genders experience body dissatisfaction irrespective of their actual body composition or BMI. Second, sexual relationships are a really important component of most romantic relationships and can really affect overall relationship satisfaction and, in turn, life satisfaction.”
“It’s not difficult to see how these two areas — body image and sexual satisfaction — may be connected. Engaging in sexual activity with another person (or multiple other people) requires significant body exposure and if an individual is unhappy with or ashamed of their body, this is an obvious context in which negative thoughts and feelings about the body are going to emerge,” Bowsfield said.
“However, we don’t know much about how body satisfaction is related to sexual satisfaction or how one person’s body image may affect their partner’s sexual outcomes.”
In the study, 123 cohabiting couples completed four online surveys over the course of one year. The couples had been together for 4.19 years on average and most couples (86.2%) reported that they were monogamous.
Women and men who had higher BMI tended to report lower levels of body satisfaction. But even after controlling for BMI, the researchers found that body satisfaction was indirectly associated with sexual quality via general sexual anxiety.
People who felt more satisfied with their body were less likely to agree with statements such as “I feel very anxious during sexual activities,” and in turn were more likely to agree with statements such as “My partner really pleases me sexually” and “My sex life is fulfilling.” The researchers also found an individual’s level of sexual anxiety was related to their partner’s level of sexual satisfaction.
“Essentially, the less satisfied women and men are with their bodies, the more they experience sexual anxiety during sex (e.g., worry, distraction, inhibition) and this sexual anxiety predicts poorer sexual quality for women and men and their partners over one year,” Bowsfield told PsyPost. “In other words, poor body image may not only negatively affect the individual’s sexual experience, but it may also extend to negatively affect their partner’s sexual experience. This is likely because individuals experience anxiety during sex that interferes with their ability to fully engage in sexual activity.”
In addition to BMI, the researchers also controlled for factors such as relationship satisfaction, sexual frequency, depression symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and self-esteem. But the study, like all research, includes some caveats.
“Although I assessed associations between study variables over one year, the analyses are still correlational and thus the direction of effects cannot be determined based on these results. The sample also only included mixed-sex couples and so I cannot make claims about how these associations may operate among other relationship configurations (e.g., same-sex couples, polyamorous relationships), although there is little reason to hypothesize that they would operate much differently.”
“I’ve expanded this line of research to examine the direction of effects between body satisfaction and sexual satisfaction and to assess how receiving body feedback from a partner is related to individuals’ body satisfaction and couples’ sexual satisfaction. Stay tuned for results!”
The study, “Sexual Anxiety Mediates Dyadic Associations Between Body Satisfaction and Sexual Quality in Mixed-Sex Couples“, was authored by Marissa L. Bowsfield and Rebecca J. Cobb.