Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Sexual Esteem Among Male and Female Adult Student

The current study was designed to investigate the relationship of perceived physical attractiveness and sexual esteem among Pakistani women and men. Role of gender and marital status on the study variables was also explored. The sample consisted of 320 adults (130 men and 190 women) with age range of 18 to 35 years. Sample was taken from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire – Appearance Scale MBSRQ-AS (Cash, 2000) was used to measure perceived physical attractiveness. Sexual esteem was measured by the subscale of Multidimensional Sexual Self-Concept Questionnaire (Snell, 1998). The findings indicated that Appearance Evaluation, Appearance Orientation, and Body Area Satisfaction were positively correlated to sexual esteem, whereas overweight preoccupation was negatively correlated with sexual esteem. Gender differences on the variables indicated that appearance evaluation was higher among men as compared to females. The moderation analysis showed that the significant negative relationship between overweight preoccupation and sexual esteem in men only, whereas sexual esteem of women was not unaffected through all levels of overweight preoccupation. The study findings provided a better insight into the role played by perceived physical attractiveness and need of sexual esteem among both genders. Findings were discussed in cultural context. Further, implications of the study were considered and discussed.