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Do you remember your first time? You probably imagined the huge deflowering to occur on rose petal-sprinkled satin sheets but chances are, it didn't play out that way, did it? Researchers are suggesting that a person's first sexual experience paves the way "for the rest of one's sexual life."
According to an article in Science Daily, the study, published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, was the first of its kind to examine whether there were lasting consequences to how a person loses their virginity.
"The loss of virginity is often viewed as an important milestone in human development, signifying a transition to adulthood," said Matthew Shaffer, a doctoral psychology student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "However, it has not been studied in this capacity. We wanted to see the influence it may have related to emotional and physical development."
The sexual experiences of 331 young men and women were rated according to factors such as anxiety, contentment, regret, sense of control, satisfaction and well-being. Subjects also kept a diary of detailing current sexual encounters.
Researchers found that largely positive first-time experiences carried into long-term relations, and were "predictive of physical and emotional satisfaction."
"While this study doesn't prove that a better first time makes for a better sex life in general, a person's experience of losing their virginity may set the pattern for years to come," said Shaffer.
Certainly the sample was small and the findings obvious. I can see in cases where a person's first time wasn't consensual the effects could carry into future relations.
But correct me if I'm wrong—for most people the first time is pretty anticlimactic and awkward, but not necessarily synonymous with traumatic or negative. As they say, practice makes perfect...
Have a negative first sexual encounter? Did it taint your sex life in the long run?