Sexual activity by age in older adults

What the study measured

The study interviewed a nationally representative sample of 3,005 adults in the United States, aged 57 to 85, in 2005 and 2006. Sexual activity meant any mutually voluntary sexual contact with another person in the previous 12 months. The figures are the shares of men and women in each age group who said they had been sexually active.

The main patterns

The share who were sexually active fell with age in both sexes, and at every age it was lower in women than in men. Women in the study were also less likely than men to have a spouse or other intimate partner, which accounts for part of the gap. Among people who were sexually active, about half of both men and women reported at least one bothersome sexual problem.

Health and inactivity

Health problems were a common reason for not being sexually active. People who rated their own health as poor were less likely to be sexually active, and among respondents with a spouse or other intimate partner who had been sexually inactive for three months or longer, the reason given most often was the male partner's physical health (reported by 55% of men and 64% of women).

The limits of these figures

This is one US sample, interviewed in 2005 and 2006 and published in 2007, so it may not describe older adults in Europe or today. The answers are self-reported, which can lead people to under- or over-report. The study compares different people at different ages at one point in time; it does not follow the same people as they get older.

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