The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Relationships between condoms, hormonal methods, and sexual pleasure and satisfaction: an exploratory analysis from the Women's Well-Being and Sexuality Study

Relationships between condoms, hormonal methods, and sexual pleasure and satisfaction: an exploratory analysis from the Women's Well-Being and Sexuality Study
Relationships between condoms, hormonal methods, and sexual pleasure and satisfaction: an exploratory analysis from the Women's Well-Being and Sexuality Study
Background: Little is known about how condoms and other contraceptives influence women’s sexual enjoyment, which could shape use patterns. Methods: Data from an online study of women’s sexual health and functioning were used to examine how three categories of contraceptive use – hormonal method only, condoms primarily, and dual use – could help predict decreased sexual pleasure associated with contraceptive method and overall sexual satisfaction in the past 4 weeks. Results: In analyses controlling for age, relationship length, and other variables, male condoms were most strongly associated with decreased pleasure, whether used alone or in conjunction with hormonal methods. Women who used hormonal methods alone were least likely to report decreased pleasure, but they also had significantly lower overall scores of sexual satisfaction compared with the other two groups. Dual users, or women who used both condoms and a hormonal method, reported the highest sexual satisfaction scores. Conclusions: Because male condoms were viewed by many of these women as decreasing sexual pleasure, sexual risk practices are likely to be affected. Although hormonal only users were highly unlikely to report decreased pleasure, they reported lower sexual satisfaction compared with the other two groups. Dual users, who had the highest sexual satisfaction scores, may have been the most sexually satisfied because they felt more fully protected against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmissible infections – consistent with previous qualitative documentation of ‘eroticising safety.’ This exploratory study suggests that different contraceptives affect sexuality in various ways, warranting further research into these sexual dimensions and how they influence contraceptive practices.

1448-5028
321-330
Higgins, Jenny A.
2649c04b-b70d-4651-a179-8d4e5ded17bd
Hoffman, Susie
fd994a6d-8c9f-4b65-91ca-2d9b0c037cb5
Graham, Cynthia A.
ac400331-f231-4449-a69b-ec9a477224c8
Sanders, Stephanie A.
bb4ce9a1-0d94-4fe9-9113-f2ac41ec7961
Higgins, Jenny A.
2649c04b-b70d-4651-a179-8d4e5ded17bd
Hoffman, Susie
fd994a6d-8c9f-4b65-91ca-2d9b0c037cb5
Graham, Cynthia A.
ac400331-f231-4449-a69b-ec9a477224c8
Sanders, Stephanie A.
bb4ce9a1-0d94-4fe9-9113-f2ac41ec7961

Higgins, Jenny A., Hoffman, Susie, Graham, Cynthia A. and Sanders, Stephanie A. (2008) Relationships between condoms, hormonal methods, and sexual pleasure and satisfaction: an exploratory analysis from the Women's Well-Being and Sexuality Study. Sexual Health, 5 (4), 321-330. (doi:10.1071/SH08021).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Little is known about how condoms and other contraceptives influence women’s sexual enjoyment, which could shape use patterns. Methods: Data from an online study of women’s sexual health and functioning were used to examine how three categories of contraceptive use – hormonal method only, condoms primarily, and dual use – could help predict decreased sexual pleasure associated with contraceptive method and overall sexual satisfaction in the past 4 weeks. Results: In analyses controlling for age, relationship length, and other variables, male condoms were most strongly associated with decreased pleasure, whether used alone or in conjunction with hormonal methods. Women who used hormonal methods alone were least likely to report decreased pleasure, but they also had significantly lower overall scores of sexual satisfaction compared with the other two groups. Dual users, or women who used both condoms and a hormonal method, reported the highest sexual satisfaction scores. Conclusions: Because male condoms were viewed by many of these women as decreasing sexual pleasure, sexual risk practices are likely to be affected. Although hormonal only users were highly unlikely to report decreased pleasure, they reported lower sexual satisfaction compared with the other two groups. Dual users, who had the highest sexual satisfaction scores, may have been the most sexually satisfied because they felt more fully protected against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmissible infections – consistent with previous qualitative documentation of ‘eroticising safety.’ This exploratory study suggests that different contraceptives affect sexuality in various ways, warranting further research into these sexual dimensions and how they influence contraceptive practices.

Text
Higgins_et_al._Sexual_Health_2.29.08.doc - Accepted Manuscript
Restricted to Registered users only
Download (617kB)
Request a copy

More information

Published date: 18 November 2008
Organisations: Psychology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 206737
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/206737
ISSN: 1448-5028
PURE UUID: 703a5365-3310-4f01-baa9-91181e1ec029
ORCID for Cynthia A. Graham: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7884-599X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 Jan 2012 11:17
Last modified: 21 Mar 2024 02:47

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Jenny A. Higgins
Author: Susie Hoffman
Author: Stephanie A. Sanders

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×