Public Release: 

First sex linked to better body image in men, not women

Penn State


"We're not talking about 12-year-old girls having sex, so it's striking that even among these young women -- who are 17 or older when they first had sex -- their images of themselves went down," said Eva S. Lefkowitz, associate professor of human development and family studies. "If on average they're feeling worse about themselves, it says something about their development of healthy sexuality and healthy sense of self and being."




"There has been a lot of research on what predicts risky sexual behavior, but not a lot about how adolescents and young adults experience their sexual behavior and what might be some of the mental health and well-being outcomes," Vasilenko said. "Most of the research in that area looks at mental health outcomes of early sexual behavior relative to peers, finding that adolescents who have sex early, particularly females, might have more depression symptoms. I was interested in whether it would be more positive if individuals transition to sexual behavior when they were college-age, because that's a more normative time, when most people are sexually active."

The researchers surveyed 434 students asking them about their "attitudes and experiences in relationships with other people." All students were traditional freshmen -- age 17 to 19 years -- at the start of the project. The researchers administered the same survey to these students four times over the course of their college careers. Of the students surveyed, 100 engaged in sexual intercourse for the first time during the four-year study period.

The questionnaires asked participants to evaluate their appearance by rating their agreement with statements about their overall satisfaction with their appearance. The students also reported whether or not they had engaged in penetrative sex and if they had, to provide the month and year of their first time. Women's satisfaction with their appearance decreased after first intercourse, while men's satisfaction with appearance increased.



