Sexuality and aging--usual and successful

As aging research increasingly reflects an effort to dissociate true time-driven changes from those that can be improved, sexuality in later life remains largely unexplored. Several problems are evident. There is a lack of normative data, a lack of a conceptual framework relating to the biology, psychology, and sociology of sex, and an attitudinal resistance that obscures the entire topic.

We conducted a three-part instructional series on major topics involved with sexuality and aging. We surveyed our group of attendees (n 158, average age 68 for males, 65 for females) before and after the series.

A remarkably robust sex life was evidenced by both the men and the women, even until advanced old age. Yet, a substantially decreased involvement was reported from 10 years earlier. Despite current activities, people of both sexes wished they were participating even more than they currently were. Impotency was identified as the major negative feature for the men; relationship problems were for the women. A questionnaire 6 months after the series reported improved sexual attitudes, but no change in sexual activities from the earlier survey.

Sexuality is a major quality-of-life issue which persists into old age. Our study showed that the usual sexual practices reported by our group were not considered by them to be ideal. The intervention of this instructional series provided improved sexual attitudes but not performance. Additional studies are encouraged.