these girls were also more likely to have had 4 or more sexual partners

A fascinating new study has reinforced the idea that there are psychological implications of a teenage girl's weight on the way she behaves and in particular the chances of her indulging in risky sexual habits.  The researchers looked at almost 7,200 American high school girls and noted that those who were underweight or those who perceived themselves to be overweight were both more likely not to make use of condoms. Interestingly even if the girls were not overweight but just thought that they were they were less likely to insist on condom use.

It seems that because these groups of girls have issues with their bodies they have less confidence with sexual activity and therefore are hesitant to request sexual partners to use condoms. It was also noted that these girls were also more likely to have had 4 or more sexual partners.

Ukmedix News has written a lot of stories about how your weight is linked to your self esteem. We have written about studies which show that overweight people find it more difficult to get proper jobs, are more likely to be depressed and are even paid less than normal weight colleagues. The fact that these underweight and overweight teenage girls are prepared to forgo the use of condoms is likely to be due to low self esteem and a concern that condom use may result in less pleasure for their sexual partners.

Dr. Aletha Yvette Akers from the University of Pittsburgh who led this research explained that it was likely that those girls with negative body perceptions either had a “limited capacity or willingness”  to properly negotiate with sexual partners. This research which was written up in the medical journal Pediatrics should serve as a warning to all parents to be more concerned about the sexual health issues of their overweight teenage daughters then for their normal weight teenage daughters.