Sexual Health and Wellbeing Among Older Men and W

Authors: David M Lee James Nazroo Daryl B O’Connor Margaret Blake Neil Pendleton

Publish Date: 2015/01/27

Volume: 45, Issue: 1, Pages: 133-144

PDF Link

Abstract

We describe levels of sexual activity problems with sexual functioning and concerns about sexual health among older adults in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing ELSA and associations with age health and partnership factors Specifically a total of 6201 core ELSA participants 56  women aged 50 to 90 completed a comprehensive Sexual Relationships and Activities questionnaire SRAQ included in ELSA Wave 6 2012/13 The prevalence of reporting any sexual activity in the last year declined with age with women less likely than men at all ages to report being sexually active Poorer health was associated with lower levels of sexual activity and a higher prevalence of problems with sexual functioning particularly among men Difficulties most frequently reported by sexually active women related to becoming sexually aroused 32  and achieving orgasm 27  while for men it was erectile function 39  Sexual health concerns most commonly reported by women related to their level of sexual desire 11  and frequency of sexual activities 8  Among men it was level of sexual desire 15  and erectile difficulties 14  While the likelihood of reporting sexual health concerns tended to decrease with age in women the opposite was seen in men Poor sexual functioning and disagreements with a partner about initiating and/or feeling obligated to have sex were associated with greater concerns about and dissatisfaction with overall sex life Levels of sexual activity decline with increasing age although a sizable minority of men and women remain sexually active until the eighth and ninth decades of life Problems with sexual functioning were relatively common but overall levels of sexual health concerns were much lower Sexually active men reported higher levels of concern with their sexual health and sexual dissatisfaction than women at all ages Older peoples’ sexual health should be managed not just in the context of their age gender and general health but also within their existing sexual relationshipWe thank the study participants DML is a Research into Ageing Fellow This study was funded by the National Institute on Aging Grants 2RO1AG764401A1 and 2RO1AG017644 and a consortium of UK Government departments coordinated by the Office for National Statistics JN and NP were supported by the fRaill project Grant MRC G1001375/1 as part of the crossresearch council Life Long Health and Wellbeing Programme The lead author DML confirms the independence of all coauthors from funders and sponsors The ELSA datasets are publicly available from the UK Data Service at wwwukdataserviceacuk ELSA documentation including questionnaires is available from the Institute for Fiscal Studies at http//wwwelsaprojectacuk Stata® dofiles are available from DML at davidmleemanchesteracuk

Keywords: