University Park, PA, USA. For young people, aged 17 and older, having sex for the first time ever can improve or degrade self-image, depending on whether their sex is female or male.

A new study documents how on average, college-age males become more satisfied with their appearance after first intercourse, whereas college-age females become slightly less satisfied.


There has been little attention on how adolescents and young adults actually experience their sexual behavior, and the likely mental health and well-being outcomes. The researchers were interested in whether it would be more positive if individuals transition to sexual behavior when they were of college-age, because that is a time when most people are sexually active (ie., normative)."

Most of the previous research has focused on what predicts risky sexual behavior, looking at the mental health outcomes of early sexual behavior when compared to peers. The general finding has been that adolescents who have sex early — particularly females — might have more symptoms of depression."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 at Penn State. "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."

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.

The research report appears in the Journal of Adolescence. Overall, the researchers found that;

• Women became happier with their physical appearance from their first to fourth year in college, and men became less satisfied with their appearance over the same time period.
  
  
• However, the researchers also found the opposite directly after students had sex for the first time — males were more satisfied with their appearance and females were less satisfied.

In previous studies, researchers found positive body image can reinforce risky sexual behavior in male college students, said Sara A. Vasilenko, graduate student in human development and family studies.

Vasilenko notes that one possible application of this study is that sexuality education programs should try to foster positive body image in both girls and boys. She said sexuality education for males should focus on feelings of masculinity and how to achieve those feelings without engaging in risky sexual behaviors. Sexuality education for females could focus on promoting positive body image.

Vasilenko also noted that a possible next step is to look at what factors make the first sexual intercourse experience positive or negative for different people. Future research might lead to a better understanding of what contributes to a more positive experience for females.