Female sexual function and its associations with number of children, pregnancy, and relationship satisfaction

Katarina Witting1, Pekka Santtila, Katarina Alanko

  • 1Centre of Excellence for Behavior Genetics, Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Turku, Finland. katarina.witting@abo.fi

Associations between number of children, pregnancy, and overall relationship satisfaction were explored in a population-based sample of 2081 women, aged 33-43 years. Multiparous women had less orgasm problems compared to nulliparous women. Nulliparous women had more pain problems and were sexually less satisfied compared to women with children, regardless of the number. Women pregnant with the first child had fewer pain problems compared to a matched nonpregnant control and were sexually more satisfied. Being more satisfied with the overall relationship was related to higher sexual satisfaction and less sexual function problems.

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