The project focused on the role that body image dimensions have in human sexual response. With cross-sectional mixed methodology, we studied whether different dimensions of body image were associated with the sexual satisfaction and sexual functioning. We aimed to study whether these associations were mediated by cognitive distraction with body appearance.

Body image is a multidimensional concept that includes, among others, dimensions as body dissatisfaction, body self-esteem, body image beliefs about and attitudes towards body image. These dimensions have a significant impact on sexual health. However, most studies developed are characterized by the use of self-report instruments on the body esteem and attitudes and also by the use of self-report measures of sexual function and satisfaction. In this project we intended to overcome these limitations by introducing psychophysiological assessment of sexual response. This has allowed understanding whether different dimensions of the image body were associated with psychophysiological sexual response. In order to enrich the knowledge in the field of sexual health, the study included a sample of couples with and without sexual dysfunction. The primary aim of this study was to analyze the impact of different dimensions of body image on sexual response evaluated in its complexity – sexual response evaluated by self-report and psychophysiologically – in a clinical (n = 30) and non-clinical (n = 30) sample, evaluated individually and dyadically. The results had implications for the integration of psycho-educational components about body appearance and physiological sexual response in sex education and cognitive- behavioral sex therapy.