Do Educated Women Have More Sexual Satisfaction? A Systematic Review Study

Abstract

Objectives: Educational status affects all aspects of life, including sex life. Regarding the relationship between women’s sexual satisfaction and their education level, contradictory results have been obtained so far. This systematic review aimed to summarize the existing knowledge in this area. Methods: In this study, three electronic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for all the related articles published from 1 January, 2000 to 28 June, 2022. The MeSH keywords including "educational status", "education", and "sexual satisfaction" were combined with Boolean operators of AND and OR. There were no geographical constraints in this study. Inclusion criteria were all observational articles evaluating the relationship between the educational status of heterosexual, nonpregnant, and non-sick women with sexual satisfaction. The quality of articles was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) and the data were analyzed qualitatively. Result: Out of a total of 4984 retrieved articles, nine studies with a sample size of 10488 women were included in this systematic review (2003-2021). In subjects with sexual dysfunction and mental health problems, as well as those affected by economic pressure, sexual satisfaction was predicted by the mentioned factors and not by the education level. Generally, in the studies where it was possible to compare the participants with all levels of education (illiterate to academic) and there was no sexual dysfunction, mental health problems, and economic pressure, women’s level of education was the predictor of their sexual satisfaction. Conclusions: According to our results, education was the most effective predictor of women’s sexual satisfaction in stable conditions without sexual dysfunction. Education can improve women’s educability, knowledge, and attitudes towards sexual issues, thereby increasing their sexual satisfaction. However, for a more definite conclusion, high-quality and larger studies are needed to measure the relationship between sexual satisfaction and women’s education.