Relationship between feminine hygiene practices, body image, and self-esteem

Feminine hygiene practices and their relationships to body image and self-esteem were the focus of this exploratory descriptive study in women 18 years of age and older. Descriptive analysis, Pearson product moment correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analysis were done on data collected from 193 subjects using the investigator developed BSC-Feminine Hygiene Questionnaire, the Secord Body-Cathexis Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Women with positive body image were found to participate in a greater number of feminine hygiene practices (r = -.3578, p =.001). There was an inverse relationship (r = -.0286, p =.05) between self-esteem and feminine hygiene practices. Body image accounted for 13% of the variance of feminine hygiene practices. Demographic variables of age, number of people in the home, number of bathrooms, years of education, occupation, religious belief, marital status, and self-esteem did not contribute significantly to the regression model.