Abstract
We examine giving versus receiving oral sex, two processes that shape and are shaped by relationship quality, and how they predict well-being in late life. We analyze 884 heterosexual couples from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (2010–11). Results from the Actor–Partner Interdependence Models suggest that older adults with better relationship quality gave oral sex to their partner more often than those with worse relationship quality; this association was stronger for men than women. While receiving oral sex was positively related to both men’s and women’s perceptions of relationship quality, women’s relationship quality was more strongly linked to their partners’ well-being than men’s. Men’s giving of oral sex was positively related to their own well-being through increasing their partner’s perceived relationship quality. Findings suggest that oral sex plays an important but overlooked role in maintaining an active sexual life, quality relationship, and psychological vibrancy in late life.