Past findings on the association between negative body image and sexual health behaviors have been mixed and mostly derived from Western samples. The aim of the current study was to examine associations between indices of negative body image and sexual health practices that reduce the risk of disease transmission in emerging adults, and whether these associations are moderated by gender. Using an online survey, a convenience sample of 584 Malaysian adults aged 18–30 years (230 men, 354 women) completed measures of satisfaction with overall appearance, body size dissatisfaction, weight satisfaction, height satisfaction, and genital image evaluation. They also reported if they ever had partnered sex, condomless sex, and been screened for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as their lifetime number of penetrative sex partners. Hierarchical logistic and ordinal regression analyses indicated that more positive genital image evaluation, but not the other body image indices, was significantly associated with having had partnered sex and fewer lifetime penetrative sex partners. None of the body image indices were significantly associated with condomless sex. All associations were consistent across men and women. For HIV testing, a significant interaction between genital image evaluation and gender emerged. However, this was reduced to non-significance after controlling for the number of penetrative sex partners. Overall, our findings underline the importance of promoting improved genital image in interventions aimed at increasing positive sexual health behaviors.

过去关于负面身体形象与性健康行为之间关系的研究结果参差不齐，而且大多来自西方样本。本研究的目的是检查负面身体形象指数与降低新生成年人疾病传播风险的性健康实践之间的关联，以及这些关联是否受到性别的调节。通过在线调查，对 584 名 18 至 30 岁的马来西亚成年人（230 名男性，354 名女性）进行了方便抽样，完成了对整体外观、体型不满意、体重满意、身高满意和生殖器形象评估的满意度测量。他们还报告了自己是否曾经有过性伴侣、无避孕套性行为，是否接受过人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）筛查，以及一生中插入性伴侣的数量。层次逻辑和序数回归分析表明，更积极的生殖器形象评估（而不是其他身体形象指数）与有性伴侣和较少的终生插入式性伴侣显着相关。没有一个身体形象指数与无套性行为显着相关。所有关联在男性和女性中都是一致的。对于艾滋病毒检测，生殖器图像评估和性别之间出现了显着的相互作用。然而，在控制了插入性伴侣的数量后，这一点降低到了不显着。总体而言，我们的研究结果强调了在旨在增加积极性健康行为的干预措施中促进改善生殖器形象的重要性。