Global Self-Esteem and Sexual Self-Esteem As Predictors of Sexual Communication in Intimate Relationships (Report‪)‬

Abstract: The goal of the present study was to examine the possible links between global self-esteem and sexual self-esteem, and their links to sexual communication in relationships. It was hypothesized that while there is a positive relationship between global self-esteem and communication in intimate relationships, sexual self-esteem will be a unique predictor of communication. Analyses of the responses of 74 individuals indicated that sexual self-esteem is a distinct, although contributing, aspect of global self-esteem and that sexual communication differs from general communication. Furthermore, while it was found that high levels of both global and sexual self-esteem predicted a higher ability to communicate about satisfying sexual behaviours with a partner, hierarchical regressions demonstrated that sexual self-esteem was a unique predictor of sexual communication over and above the contribution of global self-esteem. These results suggest that global self-esteem may be too broad a construct to predict one's ability to discuss sexual needs with a partner, and that future research may benefit from using measures of sexual self-esteem when researching sexual communication in intimate relationships. Introduction