Date of Conferral

12-3-2025

Date of Award

December 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Patti Barrows

Abstract

Only within the last few decades has female sexual health become a topic of focus for researchers and practitioners to begin focusing on, leading to a gap in research between female sexual health and male sexual health. This has led to lack of knowledge and understanding on female sexual dysfunction and how interventions can effectively address it. An identified gap in knowledge of female sexual health and self-esteem is the lack of understanding of female narratives. This study was developed with the purpose of filling that gap and addressing domains within sexual health and self-esteem through exploration of the narratives of females on their sexual self-esteem, as a domain of sexual well-being, within their long-term intimate relationships, as a domain of sexual health. The research question is: What are the narratives of sexual self-esteem as a domain of sexual well-being in cisgender women’s long-term intimate relationships? Sociometer theory provided a framework for the study. The qualitative study utilized narrative interviews to explore the perspectives of 15 females who have been in a long-term relationship for 3 years or more. Three themes emerged from the study with subthemes: (a) relationship communication impacts sexual self-esteem, (b) relationship satisfaction impacts sexual self-esteem, and (c) overall self-esteem impacts sexual self-esteem. These findings offer insight for future practitioners on areas to address to work with women on improving sexual self-esteem. The study contributes to social change by identifying areas of further research to continue reducing the gaps that impacts women’s health and overall well-being. In addition, the study may help improve the improvement of interventions meant to improve female sexual dysfunction.

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