Sexual Self-Schemas of Croatian University Students: Gender Differences and Links with Sexual Activity

The aim of the study was to investigate sexual self-schemas of Croatian university students in relation to their gender and recent sexual activity. The Sexual Self-Schema Scale was administered to 285 undergraduate students of both genders, and a single question on the presence of sexual partner in the past month was asked. Gender differences were found in all three dimensions of sexual self-schemas, reflecting traditional gender roles. Sexual activity was related to sexual self-schema dimensions of direct/outspoken and reserved/conservative, but not to the dimension of loving/warm, with relationships between recent sexual activity and sexual self-schemas being equal for females and males. The results supported theoretical notions on gender and sexual experience-related differences in sexual self-views, extended previous findings from Western countries and emphasized the importance of sociocultural context of human sexuality. They also contributed to better understanding of sexual self-schemas, especially among men whose sexual cognitions were less frequently investigated than those of women.