MONDAY, Sept. 30, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- There's a strong link between self-esteem and good times between the sheets, a new study suggests.

Folks ranking high in self-esteem also tended to rate their sex lives as satisfying, reported a team from the Universities of Zurich and Utrecht, in Switzerland and The Netherlands.

The effect could work in both directions, researchers believe.

“People with higher self-esteem tend not only to be sexually active more often, but also to be more satisfied with their sexual experiences,” said lead authors Elisa Weber and Wiebke Bleidorn, from the department of psychology at the University of Zurich.

The data was based on interviews conducted over 12 years with more than 11,000 German adults, averaging about 26 years of age.

They were asked questions such as, “How satisfied are you with your sex life?” and “How often have you had sexual intercourse, on average, during the past three months?," or asked to agree or disagree with statements such as "Sometimes I believe that I’m worthless" or “I like myself just the way I am."

There was a strong correlation between higher levels of self-esteem and an active, satisfying sex life, the researchers found.

The relationship seemed "reciprocal" over time: For example, as levels of self-esteem climbed higher, sex got more satisfying, too. And as folks enjoyed happier sex lives, self-esteem levels rose.

They researchers noted that sexual satisfaction was key to self-esteem, not the actual frequency of sexual encounters.

"The extent to which one’s sexual desires are subjectively met may be more relevant to a person’s self-acceptance than the frequency with which people engage in sex," they theorized.

Feeling better about oneself might also make people "feel more confident in permitting intimacy, as well as disclosing and pursuing their sexual needs and desires," the study authors said.

It also didn't seem to matter if folks were in a relationship: The link between sexual satisfaction and self-esteem was similar whether folks were coupled or single, the study found.

These effects weren't the same for everyone, however.

According to the University of Zurich news release, "Older people and women tended to show a stronger connection between self-esteem and sexual well-being than younger people and men."

The findings were published recently in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Bleidorn said that “answering these questions is of immense importance... The results of this study help to understand the complex interplay between self-esteem and sexual experience and provide important impetus for future research in this area."

More information

Find out more about self-esteem at Yale University.

SOURCE: University of Zurich, news release, Sept. 18, 2024; Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Sept. 18, 2024

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