Table 3.
Estimated Regression Coefficients From Mixed-Effects Models Predicting Mental Health Using Sex Variables, National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) 2005/2006 to 2015/2016 (N of Person-Period = 4,109, N of Respondents = 1,911)
| Self-rated poor mental health | Unhappiness | Psychological distress | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (1) | (2) | (3) | (1) | (2) | (3) | |
| Panel A: Had sex last year (ref: no) | −0.16*** | −0.23*** | −0.19*** | −0.14*** | −0.19*** | −0.13** | −0.61*** | −0.24 | 0.02 |
| Year | −0.01** | −0.02** | −0.02*** | 0.01* | 0.00 | 0.00 | −0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 |
| Sex*Year | 0.01* | 0.02* | 0.01 | 0.01* | −0.07* | −0.06 | |||
| Relationship support | −0.14*** | −0.25*** | −0.89*** | ||||||
| Relationship strain | 0.06** | 0.09*** | 0.61*** | ||||||
| Panel B: Sexual frequency (ref: no) | |||||||||
| Once a month | −0.10* | −0.17** | −0.15* | −0.05 | −0.09 | −0.06 | −0.36 | −0.03 | 0.11 |
| 2–3 times a month | −0.19*** | −0.23*** | −0.18** | −0.18*** | −0.26*** | −0.19** | −0.65** | −0.12 | 0.20 |
| Once a week or more | −0.25*** | −0.32*** | −0.26*** | −0.25*** | −0.25*** | −0.17** | −0.80*** | −0.20 | 0.15 |
| Year | −0.01* | −0.02** | −0.02** | 0.01* | 0.00 | 0.00 | −0.01 | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Once a month*Year | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | −0.05 | −0.03 | |||
| 2–3 times a month*Year | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.02* | 0.02** | −0.10* | −0.09 | |||
| Once a week or more*Year | 0.02 | 0.02 | −0.00 | −0.00 | −0.14** | −0.12* | |||
| Relationship support | −0.14*** | −0.25*** | −0.89*** | ||||||
| Relationship strain | 0.06*** | 0.09*** | 0.60*** | ||||||
| Panel C: Okay with frequency (ref: as often as wanted) | |||||||||
| Less often than wanted | 0.18*** | 0.20*** | 0.16*** | 0.19*** | 0.23*** | 0.18*** | 0.95*** | 1.10*** | 0.86*** |
| More often than wanted | 0.10 | 0.17* | 0.15 | 0.06 | 0.03 | −0.01 | 0.76* | 1.14* | 0.98* |
| Year | −0.01* | −0.01 | −0.00 | 0.01 | 0.01* | 0.01* | −0.03 | −0.00 | 0.00 |
| Less often*Year | −0.01 | −0.01 | −0.01 | −0.01 | −0.04 | −0.04 | |||
| More often*Year | −0.02 | −0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | −0.10 | −0.10 | |||
| Relationship support | −0.13*** | −0.24*** | −0.85*** | ||||||
| Relationship strain | 0.06*** | 0.10*** | 0.62*** | ||||||
| Panel D: Physical pleasure (ref: not very pleasurable) | |||||||||
| Very pleasurable | −0.21*** | −0.15** | −0.09 | −0.31*** | −0.26*** | −0.16*** | −0.81*** | −0.96*** | −0.51* |
| Extremely pleasurable | −0.39*** | −0.40*** | −0.31*** | −0.58*** | −0.56*** | −0.41*** | −1.22*** | −1.38*** | −0.68** |
| Year | −0.01* | −0.00 | −0.00 | 0.01 | 0.01* | 0.01* | −0.02 | −0.04 | −0.04 |
| Very pleasurable*year | −0.02* | −0.02* | −0.01 | −0.01 | 0.04 | 0.04 | |||
| Extremely pleasurable*year | 0.01 | 0.01 | −0.00 | −0.00 | 0.04 | 0.04 | |||
| Relationship support | −0.10*** | −0.19*** | −0.82*** | ||||||
| Relationship strain | 0.06** | 0.08*** | 0.60*** | ||||||
| Panel E: Emotional satisfaction (ref: not very satisfied) | |||||||||
| Very satisfied | −0.22*** | −0.19*** | −0.11* | −0.33*** | −0.27*** | −0.13** | −1.15*** | −0.93*** | −0.22 |
| Extremely satisfied | −0.40*** | −0.43*** | −0.32*** | −0.65*** | −0.59*** | −0.40*** | −1.33*** | −1.28*** | −0.28 |
| Year | −0.01* | −0.01 | −0.01 | 0.01* | 0.02*** | 0.02*** | −0.01 | 0.01 | 0.02 |
| Very satisfying*Year | −0.01 | −0.01 | −0.02* | −0.02* | −0.05 | −0.05 | |||
| Extremely satisfying*Year | 0.01 | 0.01 | −0.01* | −0.01* | −0.01 | −0.01 | |||
| Relationship support | −0.09*** | −0.18*** | −0.83*** | ||||||
| Relationship strain | 0.05** | 0.07*** | 0.61*** | ||||||
Notes. In all models, we controlled gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, self-rated physical health, sexual dysfunction variables, survey year, and missing flag. Within-individual and between-individual variances are omitted, but they are all significant.
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.