Subjective perception of sexual achievement - an exploratory study on people with overweight

The literature reports that Body Mass Index (BMI) changes are directly related to sexual interest. Individuals with overweight and obesity selfreport fewer sexual partners and are less likely to have a romantic relationship compared to their non-obese counterparts. The objectives of this work are to know the level of perceived sexual achievement, in overweight people with the Binge Eating Scale (BES) and to study the association between age and the perception of quality of sex in people with overweight are the objectives of this work. An exploratory and quantitative study was developed, based on a sample of 218 patients of both genders, aged between 18 and 65 years. Data was collected in various hospitals of northern and central Portugal with the Sexual Satisfaction Index (SSI) being used for this purpose. Of all participants, 64.5 % expressed overweight. On a scale of 0 to 100, the SSI was, on average, 26.7 (SD = 14.6). On average, Individuals with severe poor scores on the BES registered the highest level of sexual dissatisfaction. There were, statistically, significant differences in the SSI, among individuals with and without overweight. Dissatisfaction is greater the more advanced the age of participants. Contrary to what is reported in the literature, there was no difference between individuals with and without overweight according to the number of sexual partners. The results obtained with this research are consistent with the literature, except for those concerning the number of sexual partners.