Summary: According to researchers, the closer you feel to your chronological age, the less likely you are to be satisfied with your love life.
Source: University of Waterloo.
The closer you feel to your actual age, the less likely you are to be satisfied with your sex life, a University of Waterloo study has found.
The study looked at the attitudes of sex and aging of a group of 1170 adults from their mid-40s to their mid-70s over a 10-year period.
The group, which included people of diverse sexual orientation, reported that the closer people felt to their chronological age, the lower the quality of their sex life.
“What was clear from the data is that feeling younger had a huge impact on how people felt about the quality of their sex life and how interested they were in having sex,” said Steven Mock, an associate professor in Recreation and Leisure Studies at Waterloo. “For people in mid to later life, feeling young at heart actually appears to make a difference in the bedroom.”
The research drew upon data collected in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study in the between 1995 and 2005. The MIDUS study is a national longitudinal study of health and wellbeing in the United States and measures the physical and mental health of participants over a period of decades.
“It’s important to consider all of the different psychosocial and biological factors that might influence a person’s sexuality,” “said Amy Estill, who led the research while completing her Master’s degree at Waterloo. “While feeling younger didn’t have an impact on how much sex people were having, it was quite clear that feeling older does impact the quality of the sex you’re having.”
Source: Matthew Grant – University of Waterloo
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for “The Effects of Subjective Age and Aging Attitudes on Mid- to Late-Life Sexuality” by Amy Estill, Steven E. Mock, Emily Schryer & Richard P. Eibach in Journal of Sex Research. Published online March 3 2017 doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1293603
[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]University of Waterloo “Your Sex Life is Only as Old as You Feel.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 30 May 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/aging-sexuality-6792/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]University of Waterloo (2017, May 30). Your Sex Life is Only as Old as You Feel. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved May 30, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/aging-sexuality-6792/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]University of Waterloo “Your Sex Life is Only as Old as You Feel.” https://neurosciencenews.com/aging-sexuality-6792/ (accessed May 30, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]
Abstract
The Effects of Subjective Age and Aging Attitudes on Mid- to Late-Life Sexuality
This study examined the effects of subjective age and attitudes about aging on frequency of sex and interest in sexual activity among middle-aged and older adults. Data were drawn from two waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study (n = 1,170 adults, mean age Time 1 = 53.70 years, SD = 9.08). Regression analyses were used to investigate the effects of subjective age and attitudes about aging on three measures of sexuality: frequency of sex, perceived quality of sexual activity, and interest in sexual activity, over 10 years. The older participants felt and the less positive their views of aging, the less they rated sexual activity as enjoyable over time. Feeling older (though not attitudes about aging) also predicted less interest in sex. Subjective age and beliefs about aging did not have an impact on frequency of sex. Although frequency of sex was not predicted by subjective aging and aging attitudes, the results suggested that subjective age and stereotypic views on aging may shape the experience of sex in later life.
“The Effects of Subjective Age and Aging Attitudes on Mid- to Late-Life Sexuality” by Amy Estill, Steven E. Mock, Emily Schryer & Richard P. Eibach in Journal of Sex Research. Published online March 3 2017 doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1293603
