Researcher offers new perspective on sexual desire in later life

A study by John DeLamater of the UW–Madison and Morgan Sill of the University of Michigan, published in the May 2005 issue of The Journal of Sex Research, found that the sexual desire of older people is influenced more by attitudes toward sex than by biological factors such as medication.

Using data from the American Association of Retired Persons’ Modern Maturity Sexuality Survey, DeLamater and Sill performed statistical analyses on the responses of a group of 1,384 people age 45 and older. The survey asked questions about biological, psychological, and social factors that influence sexuality.

As expected, DeLamater and Sill found that increasing age was positively correlated with lower sexual desire. Illnesses, such as high blood pressure, and the use of medication, such as anticoagulants, also resulted in lower sexual desire.

However, psychological factors were just as important. Negative attitudes toward sex were correlated with low sexual desire, and people who rated sex as important to their relationships had higher sexual desire. Besides age, attitude was the strongest predictor of desire.

Other social factors that predicted high sexual desire were a greater level of education and the presence of a sexual partner. Conversely, people who were less educated and did not have an available partner reported lower levels of desire.

These findings contradict commonly held beliefs that older people are not sexual and that sex is only for young people. DeLamater and Sill conclude that “negative attitudes about sexual activity among older persons need to be challenged so that future cohorts are not influenced by such attitudes.” They also suggested that assisted living communities should be restructured to allow elderly residents to engage in intimate relationships.

The Journal of Sex Research is published by the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality in conjunction with the UW–Madison Department of Sociology.