Abstract
We work from a gendered life course perspective to examine how sexuality is related to men’s and women’s mental health trajectories in late life. We analyze the three waves of longitudinal data from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP). We examine three measures of sexualiy: being sexually active, sexual frequency and sexual quality. Mental health is measued by self-rated mental health, happiness and depression. Results from growth curve models suggest that being sexually active is positively related to general mental health and happiness while negatively related to the level of depression. Moreover, both higher sexual frequency and better sexual quality are related to better mental health outcomes. These releationships between sexuality and mental health are stronger for men than for women.