Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Who is the “Self” in Self Reports of Sexual Satisfaction? Research and Policy Implications

  • Published:
Sexuality Research and Social Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Federal policies that guide clinical trial design exert an often unseen influence in people’s lives. Taking a closer look at the US Food and Drug Administration’s guidance in the field of female sexual dysfunction, this paper examines how sexual satisfaction is increasingly used to guide clinical interventions; however, questions remain about the social psychological qualities of this appraisal. The current mixed methods study pairs interview data with close-ended measures of sexual satisfaction in order to examine the cognitive and interpersonal strategies individuals used when they were asked to assess their own sexual satisfaction (N = 41). While researchers often assume that responses in self-report measures are reflections of an intra-individual reflective process, findings demonstrated that women and sexual minority men often reported on their partner’s sexual satisfaction instead of their own. Taking up the question of who is the “self” in self-reports of sexual satisfaction, this study explores the clinical, research, and policy implications of relying on sexual satisfaction as a meaningful indicator of change or well-being in an individual’s life.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Non-compensatory processes are defined as those decisions which, “aim at a ‘good enough’ rather than the best choice” (Shiloh et al. 2001, p. 701).

References

  • Arrington, R., Confrancesco, J., & Wu, A. W. (2004). Questionnaires to measure sexual quality of life. Quality of Life Research, 13(10), 1643–1658.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barreras, R. E. & Massey, S. G. (2011) Impact validity as a framework for advocacy-based research. Journal of Social Issues. (in press)

  • Barrientos, J. E., & Páez, D. (2006). Psychosocial variables of sexual satisfaction in Chile. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 32(5), 351–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basson, R. (2000). The female sexual response: a different model. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 26(1), 51–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bay-Cheng, L., Robinson, A., & Zucker, A. (2009). Behavioral and relational contexts of adolescent desire, wanting, and pleasure: undergraduate women’s retrospective accounts. Journal of Sex Research, 46(6), 511–524.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Benjamin, J. (1998). Shadow of the other: intersubjectivity and gender in psychoanalysis. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M., Condor, S., Edwards, D., Gane, M., Middleton, D., & Radley, A. (1989). Ideological dilemmas: a social psychology of everyday thinking. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bliss, W. J., & Horne, S. G. (2005). Sexual satisfaction as more than a gendered concept: the roles of psychological well-being and sexual orientation. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 18(1), 25–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boehringer Ingelheim, Briefing Document (June 18, 2010). Flibanserin Tablet. NDA 22–526. Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee Meeting. Accessed online July 6, 2010: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/Drugs/ReproductiveHealthDrugsAdvisoryCommittee/UCM215438.pdf.

  • Burkitt, I. (2010). Dialogues with self and others: communication, miscommunication, and the dialogical unconscious. Theory & Psychology, 20, 305–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byers, E. (2005). Relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction: a longitudinal study of individuals in long-term relationships. Journal of Sex Research, 42(2), 113–118.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cantril, H. (1965). The patterns of human concerns. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, L. M. (2010). Toward a social science of sexual satisfaction: Commentary on “virginity lost, satisfaction gained? Physiological and psychological sexual satisfaction at heterosexual debut” by Jenny A. Higgins, James Trussell, Nelwyn B. Moore, and J. Kenneth Davidson. Journal of Sex Research. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/00224491003774875

  • Carpenter, L. M., Nathanson, C. A., & Kim, Y. J. (2009). Physical women, emotional men: gender and sexual satisfaction in midlife. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38(1), 87–107.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chodorow, N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering: psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colson, M. H., Lemaire, A., Pinton, P., Hamidi, K., & Klein, P. (2006). Sexual behaviors and mental perception, satisfaction and expectations of sex life in men and women in France. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 3(1), 121–131.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, F. G., & Schober, M. F. (2008). New frontiers in standardized survey interviewing. In S. N. Hesse-Biber & P. Leavy (Eds.), Handbook of emergent methods (pp. 363–387). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W., Plano Clark, V. L., Gutmann, M., & Hanson, W. (2003). Advanced mixed methods research designs. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook on mixed methods in the behavioral and social sciences (pp. 209–240). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52(4), 281–302.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, D. H. (1998). Violent men or violent women? Whose definition counts? In R. K. Bergen (Ed.), Issues in intimate violence (pp. 97–111). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daker-White, G., & Donovan, J. (2002). Sexual satisfaction, quality of life and the transaction of intimacy in hospital patients’ accounts of their (hetero)sexual relationships. Sociology of Health & Illness, 24(1), 89–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danziger, K. (1997). The historical formation of selves. In: R.D. Ashmore and L. Jussim (Eds.), Self and identity: Fundamental issues (pp. 137–159). Oxford University Press.

  • Deenen, A. A., Gijs, L., & van Naerssen, A. X. (1994). Intimacy and sexuality in gay male couples. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 23(4), 421–431.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeLamater, J. (1991). Emotions and sexuality. In K. McKinney & S. Sprecher (Eds.), Sexuality in close relationships (pp. 49–70). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennerstein, L., Koochaki, P., & Barton, I. (2006). Hypoactive sexual desire disorder in menopausal women: a survey of western European women. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 3(2), 212–222.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, L. M., & Lucas, S. (2004). Sexual-minority and heterosexual youths’ peer relationships: experiences, expectations, and implications for well-being. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14(3), 313–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 403.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Drewery, W. (2005). Why we should watch what we say: Position calls, everyday speech and the production of relational subjectivity. Theory & Psychology, 15, 305–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, M., Calzo, J. P., Smiler, A. P., & Ward, L. (2009). “Anything from making out to having sex”: men’s negotiations of hooking up and friends with benefits scripts. Journal of Sex Research, 46(5), 414–424.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fahs, B. (2011). Performing sex. New York: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fahs, B. & Swank, E. (2010). Social identities as predictors of women’s sexual satisfaction and sexual activity. Archives of Sexual Behavior, online first: http://www.springerlink.com/content/nr2337u521q108u2/fulltext.pdf

  • Fernández-Ballesteros, R., & Botella, J. (2008). Self-report measures. In A. M. Nezu & M. Nezu (Eds.), Evidence-based outcome research: a practical guide to conducting randomized controlled trials for psychosocial interventions. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, M., & McClelland, S. I. (2006). Sexuality education and desire: still missing after all these years. Harvard Educational Review, 76(3), 297–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, M., & McClelland, S. I. (2007). The politics of teen women’s sexuality: Public policy and the adolescent female body. Emory Law Journal, 56(4), 993–1038.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flax, J. (1990). Thinking fragments: Psychoanalysis, feminism, and postmodernism in the contemporary west. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 2000). 2000 Draft Guidance for Industry Female Sexual Dysfunction: Clinical Development of Drug Products for Treatment. Division of Reproductive and Urologic Drug Products (DRUDP) in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/ScienceResearch/SpecialTopics/WomensHealthResearch/ucm133202.htm

  • Freeman, M. (2007). Narrative and relation: the place of the other in the story of the self. In R. Josselson, A. Lieblich, & D. P. McAdams (Eds.), The meaning of others: narrative studies of relationships. Washington: APA Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, H., & Kitzinger, C. (2001). Reformulating sexual script theory: developing a discursive psychology of sexual negotiation. Theory & Psychology, 11(2), 209–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fugl-Meyer, K. S., Oberg, K., Lundberg, P. O., Lewin, B., & Fugl-Meyer, A. (2006). On orgasm, sexual techniques, and erotic perceptions in 18- to 74-year-old Swedish women. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 3, 56–68.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon, J. H., & Simon, W. (Eds.). (1970). The sexual scene. New York: Aldine Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galasiński, D., & Kozłowska, O. (2010). Questionnaires and lived experience: strategies of coping with quantitative frame. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(4), 271–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, K. (2001). The saturated self: dilemmas of identity in contemporary life. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, C. A. (2010). The DSM diagnostic criteria for female orgasmic disorder. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39(2), 256–270.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough?: An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18, 59–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, K.M., Halpern, C.T. Whitsel, E. Hussey, J. Tabor, J. Entzel, P., & Udry. J.R. (2009). The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Wave III Codebooks. Retrieved from http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/codebooks/wave3.

  • Henderson-King, D., & Veroff, J. (1994). Sexual satisfaction and marital well-being in the first years of marriage. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11(4), 509–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herek, G. M. (2007). Confronting sexual stigma and prejudice: theory and practice. Journal of Social Issues, 63(4), 905–925.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hermans, H. J. M. (2001). The dialogical self: toward a theory of personal and cultural positioning. Culture & Psychology, 7, 243–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hermans, H. J. M. (2002). The dialogical self as a society of mind: Introduction. Theory & Psychology, 12, 147–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, J., Ramasanoglu, C., & Sharpe, S. (2004). The male in the head: young people, heterosexuality and power. London: Tufnell Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmberg, D., & Blair, K. L. (2009). Sexual desire, communication, satisfaction, and preferences of men and women in same-sex versus mixed-sex relationships. Journal of Sex Research, 46(1), 57–66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horne, S., & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. (2006). The female sexual subjectivity inventory: development and validation of a multidimensional inventory for late adolescents and emerging adults. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30(2), 125–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, W. W., Harrison, D. F., & Croscup, P. C. (1981). A short-form scale to measure sexual discord in dyadic relationships. Journal of Sex Research, 17(2), 157174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Impett, E. A., & Tolman, D. L. (2006). Late adolescent girls’ sexual experiences and sexual satisfaction. Journal of Adolescent Research, 21(6), 628–646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). (2008). Sexual rights: an IPPF Declaration. Retrieved from http://www.ippfwhr.org/sites/default/files/files/SexualRightsIPPFdeclaration.pdf

  • Ivankova, N. V., Creswell, J. W., & Stick, S. L. (2006). Using mixed-methods sequential explanatory design: from theory to practice. Field Methods, 18, 3–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Josselson, R. (2004). The hermeneutics of faith and the hermeneutics of suspicion. Narrative Inquiry, 14(1), 1–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaschak, E., & Tiefer, L. (2001). A new view of women’s sexual problems. New York: The Haworth Press, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, C., & Wilkinson, S. (1997). Validating women’s experience? Dilemmas in feminist research. Feminism & Psychology, 7(4), 566–574.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurdek, L. (1991). Sexuality in homosexual and heterosexual couples. In K. McKinney & S. Sprecher (Eds.), Sexuality in close relationships (pp. 177–191). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., & Michaels, S. (1994). The social organization of sexuality sexual practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrance, K., & Byers, E. S. (1992). Development of the interpersonal exchange model of sexual satisfaction in long term relationships. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 1(3), 123–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrance, K., & Byers, E. S. (1995). Sexual satisfaction in long-term heterosexual relationships: the interpersonal exchange model of sexual satisfaction. Personal Relationships, 2(4), 267–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Layton, L. (2002). Gendered subjects, gendered agents: toward an integration of postmodern theory and relational analytic practice. In M. Dimen & V. Goldner (Eds.), Gender in psychoanalytic space: between clinic and culture (pp. 285–312). New York: Other Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lever, J. (1994). Sexual revelations: the 1994 Advocate survey of sexuality and relationships: the men. The Advocate, 661(662), 16–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieblich, A., & Josselson, R. (1994). Exploring identity and gender: the narrative study of lives (Vol. 2). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, E. A. (2005). The case of the female orgasm: bias in the science of evolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marecek, J., Finn, S. E., & Cardell, M. (1983). Gender roles in the relationships of lesbians and gay men. Journal of Homosexuality, 8(2), 45–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5(2), 100–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, S. I. (2010). Intimate justice: a critical analysis of sexual satisfaction. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(9), 663–680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, S. I., & Fine, M. (2008). Writing on cellophane: studying teen women’s sexual desires; inventing methodological release points. In K. Gallagher (Ed.), The methodological dilemma: creative, critical and collaborative approaches to qualitative research (pp. 232–260). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, S. I., & Opotow, S. (2011). Studying injustice in the macro and micro spheres: four generations of social psychological research. In P. Coleman (Ed.), Conflict, interdependence and justice: the intellectual legacy of Morton Deutsch (pp. 119–145). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messick, S. (1980). Test validity and the ethics of assessment. American Psychologist, 35(11), 1012–1027.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meston, C., & Trapnell, P. (2005). Development and validation of a five-factor sexual satisfaction and distress scale for women: the sexual satisfaction scale for women (SSS-W). The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2, 66–81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morse, J. (1994). Designing funded qualitative research. In N. Denzin, & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook for Qualitative Research (pp. 220–235). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • Nicolson, P., & Burr, J. (2003). What is “normal” about women’s (hetero)sexual desire and orgasm?: a report of an in-depth interview study. Social Science & Medicine, 57, 1735–1745.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pachucki, M. A., & Breiger, R. L. (2010). Cultural holes: Beyond relationality in social networks and culture. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 205–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peplau, L. A., & Spalding, L. R. (2000). The close relationships of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. In C. Hendrick & S. S. Hendrick (Eds.), Close relationships: a sourcebook (pp. 111–123). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plano Clark, V. L., Huddleston-Casas, C. A., Churchill, S. L., Green, D. O., & Garrett, A. L. (2008). Mixed methods approaches in family science research. Journal of Family Issues, 29, 1543–1566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Purdon, C., & Holdaway, L. (2006). Non-erotic thoughts: content and relation to sexual functioning and sexual satisfaction. Journal of Sex Research, 43(2), 154–162.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Raggatt, P. T. F. (2007). Forms of positioning in the dialogical self: a system of classification and the strange case of Dame Edna Everage. Theory & Psychology, 17, 355–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raggatt, P. T. F. (2010). Essay review: the self positioned in time and space: dialogical paradigms. Theory & Psychology, 20(3), 451–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, D. (2000). Constructing sexual citizenship: theorizing sexual rights. Critical Social Policy, 20, 105–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossi, A. S. (1994). Sexuality across the life course. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez, D. T., Crocker, J., & Boike, K. R. (2005). Doing gender in the bedroom: investing in gender norms and the sexual experience. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1445–1455.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez, F. J., Greenberg, S. T., Liu, W., & Vilain, E. (2009). Reported effects of masculine ideals on gay men. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 10(1), 73–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, P., & Young, L. (2009). Sexual satisfaction in committed relationships. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 6, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N. (2007). Retrospective and concurrent self-reports: the rationale for real-time data capture. In A. A. Stone, S. Shiffman, A. Atienza, & L. Nebeling (Eds.), The science of real-time data capture: self-reports in health research. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N., & Sudman, S. (1994). Autobiographical memory and the validity of retrospective reports. New York: Springer Verlag.

  • Shiloh, S., Koren, S., & Zakay, D. (2001). Individual differences in compensatory decision-making style and need for closure as correlates of subjective decision complexity and difficulty. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(4), 699–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sprecher, S. (2002). Sexual satisfaction in premarital relationships: associations with satisfaction, love, commitment, and stability. Journal of Sex Research, 39(3), 190–196.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sprecher, S., & Cate, R. M. (2004). Sexual satisfaction and sexual expression as predictors of relationship satisfaction and stability. In J. H. Harvey, A. Wenzel, S. Sprecher, J. H. Harvey, A. Wenzel, & S. Sprecher (Eds.), The handbook of sexuality in close relationships (pp. 235–256). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sudman, S., Bradburn, N. M., & Schwarz, N. (1996). Thinking about answers: the application of cognitive processes to survey methodology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, S. (1995). Going all the way: teenage girls’ tales of sex, romance, and pregnancy. New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiefer, L. (2000). Sexology and the pharmaceutical industry: the threat of co-optation. Journal of Sex Research, 37, 273–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiefer, L. (2001). Arriving at a ‘new view’ of women’s sexual problems: background, theory, and activism. Women & Therapy, 24(1–2), 63–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolman, D. L. (1994). Doing desire: adolescent girls’ struggles for/with sexuality. Gender and Society, 8(3), 324–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolman, D. L. (2002). Dilemmas of desire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolman, D. L. (2005). Found(ing) discourses of desire: unfettering female adolescent sexuality. Feminism & Psychology, 15(1), 5–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tunuguntla, H. S. (2006). Female sexual dysfunction following vaginal surgery: a review. The Journal of Urology, 175(2), 439.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, D. (June 16, 2010a). Maker plays up sexual disorder, with a pill in waiting. The New York Times. Accessed online July 6, 2010: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/business/17sexpill.html?_r=1

  • Wilson, D. (June 18, 2010b). F.D.A. panel opposes sexual desire drug for women. The New York Times. Accessed online July 6, 2010: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/business/19sexpill.html

  • Winnicott, D. W. (1953). Transitional objects and transitional phenomena: a study of the first not-me possession. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 34, 89–97.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Zeynep Gürsel, Michelle Fine, Leonore Tiefer, David Frost, and the anonymous reviewers for their thorough reviews of this paper in its draft form. This study was funded in part by Graduate Research Grants Program, City University of New York.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Society of Fellows, Psychology and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan, 530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Sara I. McClelland

Authors
  1. Sara I. McClelland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara I. McClelland.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McClelland, S.I. Who is the “Self” in Self Reports of Sexual Satisfaction? Research and Policy Implications. Sex Res Soc Policy 8, 304–320 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-011-0067-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-011-0067-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation