A relationship between self-esteem and sexual satisfaction between women sexually functioning and dsyfunctioning

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among female sexual dysfunction, self-esteem and sexual satisfaction. The study further to determines if these variables differ with age, education level, income status, duration of marriage, type of marriage, and number of children. The participants were 321 women whose age ranged from 18 to 56. The researcher applied the instruments to the women who live in Izmir and are voluntary to engage in the study. The sampling technique of the study was convenience non-probability sampling. The participants were implemented a personal information form prepared by researcher, the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory developed by Stanley Coopersmith (1986) and the Golombok-Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction validated by Tuğrul (1988). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 15 was used for data analysis. Statistical tests including t-test, ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation were performed to analyze quantitative data. The results indicated that there was a significantly moderate negative correlation between female sexual dysfunction and self-esteem. There was a significantly strong positive relationship between female sexual dysfunction and sexual satisfaction. The relationship between sexual satisfaction and self-esteem was significantly moderate positive. Additionally, the women with sexual dysfunction have less self-esteem and sexual satisfaction than the women with no sexual dysfunction. Thus, the higher sexual dysfunction women have the less self-esteem and sexual satisfaction they experience. Moreover, women with higher level of self-esteem experience more sexual satisfaction. The results of t-test and ANOVA further showed that female sexual dysfunction, self-esteem and sexual satisfaction significantly differ according to education level, income status, type of marriage, number of children, whereas they do not significantly differ according to age and duration of marriage. Key words: female sexual dysfunction, self-esteem, sexual satisfaction, female sexuality.