The US study, which is the first to find a solid relationship between mental well-being and sexual pleasure, looked at three qualities, self-esteem, autonomy and empathy.

These were compared to three measures of sexual pleasure: regularity of orgasm, enjoyment of receiving oral sex and enjoyment of performing oral sex.

The team from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that sexual enjoyment in women was consistently linked to an empathetic male partner.

They found that when men were responsive and cared it set up a "feedback cycle" which increased a woman's pleasure.

The results also indicated that among women, self-esteem and the feeling of autonomy increased levels of sexual enjoyment.

"These developmental assets may be more important to young women's sexual pleasure since they help them break down impediments to sexual communication and exploration," the Daily Mail quoted lead researcher Adena Galinsky as saying.