رضایت بدنی، خودطرحواره جنسی و ذهنی رفاه در زنان

The objectification of women's bodies in western culture creates special emphasis on women's representations of embodied aspects of themselves. I argue that women's satisfaction with their bodies is likely to have particularly strong implications for other embodied aspects of self: in this case, representations of their sexual selves. This paper examines the relationships between women's body satisfaction, their sexual self-schemas, and components of subjective well-being in a sample of 91 Australian women aged between 18 and 68. Body satisfaction and dimensions of women's actual sexual self-schemas predicted satisfaction with life, positive and negative affect. The relationships between body satisfaction and both positive affect and satisfaction with life were partially mediated by the positive dimensions of sexual self-schemas. This finding suggests that at least some of the negative consequences associated with body dissatisfaction are due to the negative implications of body dissatisfaction for women's beliefs about their sexual selves.

There is a widely acknowledged nexus between women's body image and sexual self-confidence in contemporary western culture. Physical attraction is an important and widely emphasised aspect of intimate sexual relationships, and standards of attractiveness for women are highly consensual, and strongly contingent on a slender body (Tovee, 2001; Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann, & Ahrens, 1992). The body image literature is replete with findings that women aspire to be thinner (Cohn & Alder, 1992; Fallon & Rozin, 1985), and that they believe that successful weight loss will increase their sexual attractiveness (Ryckman, Robbins, Kaczor, & Gold, 1989). Poor body image is often thought to be associated with diminished confidence in interpersonal relationships, and particularly in intimate heterosexual relationships (Ackard, Kearney-Cooke, & Peterson, 2000; Cash, Maikkula, & Yamamiya, 2004; Faith & Schare, 1993). Given the cultural embeddedness of body image for women in this central domain of life, in this paper I argue that the frequently reported association between poor body image and low levels of subjective well-being may well arise, at least in part, from the perceived consequences for one's ability to participate in intimate sexual relationships. Confidence in one's ability to initiate and maintain satisfying intimate relationships is affected by one's beliefs about the match between one's own personal characteristics and those desired by potential partners. While there are differences between people in the characteristics they look for in a partner, there are also shared cultural beliefs about those personality attributes that make a person a desirable partner (Wheeler & Kim, 1997). Sexual self-schemas are beliefs about the extent to which one possesses personal characteristics that are associated in contemporary western culture with “being a sexual woman” (Andersen & Cyranowski, 1994), and are thus likely to be relevant to women's beliefs about their ability to form satisfying intimate relationships. Andersen and Cyranowski (1994) developed the concept of sexual self-schemas to reflect the extent to which women see themselves as possessing a range of personal characteristics that are associated with participation in intimate sexual relationships and behavioural openness to sexual experiences and encounters. They identified three dimensions to women's sexual self-schemas. The “passionate/romantic” dimension refers to the propensity to experience positive emotions in the context of romantic and sexual relationships. The “open” dimension concerns the extent to which one sees oneself as being broad-minded and open to new experiences. The “embarrassed/conservative” dimension reflects negative feelings about the self in relationships and a lack of confidence and experience. It is important to note that none of the items on Andersen and Cyranowski's scale refers directly to sexual behaviour, attitudes, or experience. Rather, it consists of personal qualities that may enable women to engage in some kinds of behaviours and to participate in some kinds of relationships. However, although the Sexual Self-Schemas Scale does not measure sexual behaviour or attitudes directly, it has been found to be associated with sexual experience, romantic involvement/attachment, number of sexual partners, enjoyment of sexual encounters, and experience with a range of sexual activities (Andersen and Cyranowski, 1994, Andersen and Cyranowski, 1995 and Andersen and Cyranowski, 1998; Cash, Jakatdar, & Williams, 2004; Cash, Maikkula et al., 2004). The relationships between sexual self-schemas and other aspects of women's self-knowledge have not yet been widely investigated or theorised. As intimate relationships are a central domain of many women's lives (Josephs, Markus, & Tafarodi, 1992), intersecting with many other social contexts, it seems likely that sexual self-schemas will reflect and be influenced by other aspects of women's self-concepts. A full discussion of these potential intersections is beyond the scope of this paper. However, I argue that the physical and embodied aspects of sex and sexuality make it particularly relevant to consider the ways in which women's representations of their sexual selves are associated with their more general representations of their bodies. Women's satisfaction with their bodies has frequently been found to be associated with their overall satisfaction with their lives (Diener, Wolsic, & Fujita, 1995; Tiggemann, 1994). Numerous studies have shown that negative feelings about one's body are associated with negative affect, low self-esteem, and vulnerability to depression (e.g., Koenig & Wasserman, 1995; Rierdan & Koff, 1997; Tiggemann, 1994). Cash and colleagues have developed the body image quality of life construct to capture the extent to which body image concerns spill over into other aspects of life (Cash & Fleming, 2002; Cash, Jakatdar et al., 2004), and Lewis and Donaghue (2005) have similarly argued that the pervasive negative effects associated with poor body image occur partly because body image is highly embedded in many women's lives. The emerging conclusion from this line of research is that many women experience their dissatisfaction with their bodies as having material negative consequences for other important aspects of their lives including their professional, social and intimate relationships. This paper seeks to explore the relationships between women's sexual self-schemas, body satisfaction, and their overall sense of subjective well-being in their lives. In particular, it examines whether and to what extent the well-established negative relationship between body dissatisfaction and well-being is mediated by women's sexual self-schemas. The cultural emphasis on the nexus between sexuality and a narrowly defined body ideal is strongly directed at women (Malkin, Wornian, & Chrisler, 1999), and so this paper examines the extent to which body satisfaction is related to women's representations of themselves as having the personal characteristics of a culturally prototypical ‘sexual woman’, and the relationship of these characteristics to subjective well-being. This study examined the relationships between women's satisfaction with their bodies, their sexual self-schemas, and three aspects of their subjective well-being: satisfaction with life, positive affect and negative affect (Diener, 1984 and Diener, 2000). On the basis of previous research, positive associations between body satisfaction, sexual self-schemas and subjective well-being were predicted. However, it was also expected that the relationship between body satisfaction and subjective well-being would be mediated by sexual self-schemas, supporting the contention that the negative consequences of body image are at least partly due to their effects on women's beliefs about their sexual selves.

These findings show that body satisfaction and the extent to which women see themselves as possessing characteristics culturally associated with “being a sexual woman” are related to elements of subjective well-being. These results support previous findings of a relationship between body image and sexual self-schemas (e.g., Cash, Jakatdar et al., 2004; Cash, Maikkula et al., 2004; Wiederman & Hurst, 1998), and extend the body image literature by showing that the well-established relationships between body image and subjective well-being are partly mediated by sexual self-schemas. Thus this study provides evidence that some of the negative effects of poor body image on well-being may be explained by the implications of dissatisfaction with one's body for beliefs about one's sexual self.