(021) Earlier Age of First Sexual Activity Predicts Women’s Higher Sexual Pleasure, but also Higher Sexual Shame

Abstract Introduction Despite calls for greater focus on sex-positive frameworks for understanding adolescent sexuality (Harden, 2014), the majority of research on early puberty and sexual debut has primarily focused on negative outcomes such as body shame (McKenney & Bigler, 2016; Schooler et al., 2005), sexual or vulvar pain (Bergeron et al., 2011; Latthe et al., 2006), risk for STIs (Sandfort et al., 2008; Upchurch et al., 2004), and unwanted pregnancy (O’Donnell et al., 2001; Mosher & McNalley, 1991). However, some studies suggest that early puberty is also associated with positive outcomes such as higher sexual desire (Fortenberry, 2013) and greater intimacy in early sexual relationships (Kaltiala-Heino et al., 2003). Possibly, this contradiction arises as researchers have not often distinguished between the effects of puberty – and pubertal timing – on partnered vs. solitary sexual experiences. Objectives The current study was designed to improve providers’ understanding of women’s early sexual experiences and later sexual wellness. Specifically, we sought to clarify associations between early puberty and partnered vs. solitary sexual debut and add to the scant literature addressing the effects of early puberty on positive outcomes such as sexual pleasure and functioning. Methods 92 women recruited from a large university in the Midwest (Mean age = 20.51, SD = 2.7) participated in an online survey about sexual wellness. We ran a series of Pearson correlations between women’s age at puberty, menses, first masturbation, first partnered sexual activity, and their adult levels of sexual shame, sexual pleasure, and sexual functioning. Results Early puberty was significantly correlated with higher reported sexual shame in adulthood, whereas early partnered sexual debut was significantly correlated with higher reported sexual pleasure in adulthood. Of note, early masturbation was significantly correlated with both higher sexual shame and higher sexual pleasure in adulthood. Correlations with overall sexual functioning were not significant. Conclusions Results suggest that the experiences of early puberty and early masturbation are each associated with increased sexual shame, and that these experiences may be particularly important targets for intervention to decrease sexual distress in adulthood. Moreover, although early partnered sexual debut has been largely stigmatized as a sexual health risk across sexual science literature, our findings suggest that earlier partnered sexual debut may enable women to experience greater sexual pleasure, perhaps as a result of earlier negotiation of their sexual desires and sexual communication (Sprecher et al., 2019). If replicated, these findings would suggest the need for targeted sexual education for patients experiencing early adolescence to prevent development of sexual shame in adulthood. Disclosure No.