Sexual Pleasure’s Associations with Self-Esteem and Body Appreciation

Sexual pleasure has attracted increasing scientific attention in recent years. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated self-esteem and body appreciation as potential determinants of sexual pleasure. We examined data from a community sample of young adult women and men. Specifically, we tested the hypotheses that self-esteem and body appreciation positively predict sexual pleasure, and that body appreciation moderates the association between self-esteem and sexual pleasure. We exploratively investigated the moderation of these effects by gender. Sexual pleasure was measured using seven items from the trait scales of the Amsterdam Sexual Pleasure Index 1.0. Self-esteem was measured with the Dutch translation of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Body appreciation was measured using the Dutch translation of the Body Appreciation Scale 2. The results showed that self-esteem positively predicted a substantial proportion (19%) of the variance of sexual pleasure, whereas body appreciation did not directly predict sexual pleasure. Body appreciation did not moderate the association between self-esteem and sexual pleasure in the full sample and in women, but it was found to moderate this association in men; however, in the opposite direction of what was predicted in the hypothesis. The findings were discussed, and suggestions were made for future research.