A new study published in Psychological Science has shown that women’s sexual satisfaction may be influenced by oral contraceptive pills in heterosexual long-term relationships.
Researchers at the University of Stirling did a study on the relation between oral contraceptive pills and sexual and non-sexual satisfaction of women in her relationship by doing a survey on 365 couples. The study found that hormonal fluctuations are related to variations in women’s judgement in the attractiveness of partner of opposite sex, can influence initial partner of choice and interpair dynamics.
The study also found that women who were on same contraceptives while they met their partner and continued with contraceptive were more sexually satisfied compared to women who either began taking the pills or stopped taking the pills in between their relationships. Relations between pills and satisfaction in a relationship was only found in sexual satisfaction and not in non-sexual satisfactions i.e. non-sexual satisfaction is not affected by whether women is taking the pills or stopped the pills during or before the relationship. Also, this relation was not associated with changes in satisfaction of male partner.
These are very early finding and further research in this matter will lead to a much wider understanding of relations between contraceptive pills, hormonal changes and satisfaction in relationships.
