Abstract

The present study investigated the relationships between the recently proposed construct of sexual self-schema and sexuality (behaviours and attitudes), personality (extraversion, neuroticism, and sensation seeking), and intimacy. Participants included both undergraduates, and community dwelling females. The sample consisted of women between the ages of 19 and 66. Participants completed a variety of self-report measures, including the Sexual Self-Schema Scale. In the sample of young females, women with a positive sexual schema reported more sexual arousability, less sexual anxiety, and more positive sexual attitudes than those with a negative sexual schema. These results were not found for the older samples of women. In all age groups, individuals with different sexual schemas were found to score differently on measures of extraversion and sensation seeking. Few schema group differences on levels of intimacy were found. For young women, the results are a partial replication of those of Cyranowski and Andersen (1998) who found differences in sexual attitude and behaviour among their schema groups. The findings for non-university aged women differ from those found by Andersen and Cyranowski (1994). The results suggest that the sexual self-schema construct may be more strongly related to sexuality for young females than for women over the age of 30.