Table 3.
Prevalence of Selected Sexual Attitudes, by Age and Gender
| Women |
Men |
|||||||
| Percentagea |
Percentagea |
|||||||
| Age 57–64 | Age 65–74 | Age 75–85 | Trend testb | Age 57–64 | Age 65–74 | Age 75–85 | Trend testb | |
| Married person having sex with someone other than partner | ||||||||
| Always wrong | 80.4 (2.5) | 83.8 (2.2) | 89.8 (1.5) | <0.001 | 75.1 (2.4) | 80.0 (2.3) | 80.8 (2.5) | 0.075 |
| Always wrong even if partner in advanced stages of dementia | 69.5 (3.1) | 67.5 (3.3) | 75.7 (2.2) | 0.039 | 61.4 (2.9) | 64.7 (2.6) | 67.6 (2.9) | 0.046 |
| Always wrong even if partner physically ill and cannot have sex | 70.8 (3.1) | 66.5 (2.9) | 73.2 (2.5) | 0.425 | 61.9 (2.6) | 64.3 (2.6) | 70.4 (2.9) | 0.019 |
| Values and beliefsc | ||||||||
| Will not have sex unless in love with partner | 86.3 (2.0) | 83.7 (2.2) | 87.0 (1.5) | 0.844 | 57.4 (2.6) | 67.8 (2.7) | 76.1 (2.7) | <0.001 |
| Religious beliefs have shaped/guided sexual behavior | 74.4 (2.3) | 75.5 (2.6) | 82.4 (2.6) | 0.016 | 57.9 (3.0) | 65.8 (2.4) | 67.3 (3.2) | 0.007 |
| Satisfactory sex essential to maintaining relationship | 71.6 (2.2) | 67.0 (2.6) | 73.6 (2.5) | 0.804 | 76.4 (2.3) | 79.1 (2.3) | 71.7 (3.2) | 0.520 |
| Sexual ability decreases with age | 68.1 (2.6) | 72.0 (2.6) | 78.5 (2.7) | 0.001 | 71.1 (2.6) | 82.9 (2.2) | 88.8 (2.5) | <0.001 |
| Importance of sex | ||||||||
| Sex not important part of lifed | 24.0 (2.3) | 34.9 (2.8) | 52.3 (2.8) | <0.001 | 6.2 (1.4) | 14.1 (1.8) | 25.9 (2.1) | <0.001 |
| Sexual ideations <1/month | 35.3 (2.7) | 51.9 (2.7) | 68.9 (2.6) | <0.001 | 8.3 (1.7) | 13.0 (1.7) | 27.3 (2.7) | <0.001 |
| Any sex out of obligation, preceding year | ||||||||
| Full sample | 35.1 (2.8) | 24.7 (2.1) | 11.5 (1.9) | <0.001 | 29.7 (3.6) | 22.6 (2.0) | 16.5 (2.1) | 0.008 |
| Subsample with partners | 45.5 (3.2) | 36.0 (2.9) | 25.3 (4.0) | <0.001 | 31.6 (3.7) | 24.3 (2.3) | 19.9 (2.5) | 0.032 |
Notes:aAll estimates are weighted to account for differential probabilities of selection and differential nonresponse. Design-based standard errors are given in parentheses.
b
p Value for a Wald test (using design-based SE) of the age coefficient for logistic regression on age (in years).
c
Based on participant “agree(ing)” or “strongly agree(ing)” with statement.
d
Based on response of “not at all important” when asked how important a part of participant’s life sex was.