Study says most young women are stressed about their sex lives

A research study conducted by Monash University found that more than half of young women in Australia experience some form of sexually-related personal distress — feeling guilty, embarrassed, stressed or unhappy about their sex lives. Results showed 50.2 percent of young Australian women experienced some form of sexually-related personal distress, with one in five women having at least one female sexual dysfunction (FSD).

A concerning 29.6 percent of women experienced sexually-related personal distress without dysfunction, and 20.6 percent had at least one FSD. The most common problem was low sexual self-image, which caused distress for 11 percent of study participants.

Arousal, desire, orgasm and responsiveness dysfunction affected 9 percent, 8 percent, 7.9 percent and 3.4 percent of the study cohort, respectively, revealed the findings published in the international journal, Fertility, and Sterility.

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‘It is of great concern that one in five young women have an apparent sexual dysfunction and half of all women within this age group experience sexually-related personal distress. This is a wake-up call to the community and signals the importance of health professionals being open and adequately prepared to discuss young women’s sexual health concerns,’ said Susan Davis, senior author and Professor of Women’s Health at Monash University.

The study, funded by Grollo Ruzzene Foundation was conducted among 6,986 women aged 18-39 years, living in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. All women completed a questionnaire that assessed their sexual wellbeing in terms of desire, arousal, responsiveness, orgasm, and self-image.

Sexual self-image dysfunction was associated with being overweight, obese, living together with partner, not married, married and breastfeeding.

As per researchers, sexually-related personal distress and FSD could impact relationships and overall quality of life as women aged. Women who habitually monitored their appearance, and for whom appearance determined their level of physical self-worth, reported being less sexually assertive and more self-conscious during intimacy and experienced lower sexual satisfaction.