STUDIES ON SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND INTEREST WITH AGE -I
Activity is only one measure of sexuality. The Duke University researchers also conducted several studies on sexual interest and interest patterns as part of the large longitudinal study.
Pfeiffer asked subjects to relate the strength of their current sexual feelings; their responses were categorized as absent, weak, moderate, or strong. Only 6% of the male sample stated that they had no current sexual feelings; 26% reported mild, 56% moderately strong, and 12% reported strong feelings. A much higher percentage of women (33%) reported no current sexual interest, 27% reported mild, and 37% reported moderately strong feelings. Only 3% of the women said that they had strong feelings. When male and female samples were broken down into five, five-year age groups, there was an age-related decline in interest, except for the very oldest age group (sixty-six to seventy-one). There was a similar finding for the activity data. The lack of decline in the very oldest group led the Duke researchers to speculate that the individuals who had survived so long may have represented a biological elite. This hypothesis was supported in a special piece of research which will be discussed later (Pfeiffer).
Overall, there was a significant decline in sexual interest with age. The proportion of males with strong sexual feelings was greater at every age than the corresponding proportion of females. The percent of females reporting no sexual interest was always greater than the respective proportions of males. As age increased, there was a tendency for the proportion of males reporting moderate sexual interest to be greater than the proportion of females.
In a more complete and older sample of subjects (ages sixty to seventy-eight and older), Verwoerdt specifically asked respondents about their interest in sexual intercourse (not sexual feelings) in each of three observations. Responses were put on a four-point rating-scale going from 0 (none) to 3 (strong). Sixty-five subjects participated in all three studies. A significant negative correlation between age and interest was observed in all three studies. The mean interest scores for the studies were 1.08, 0.83, and 0.91—low for each sample. “Strong” interest in intercourse was “exceptional after the age of seventy and was practically nonexistent after 75,” (Verwoerdt et al.). However, moderate and mild interest was not unusual at any age. There was a slight rise in the interest score in the very oldest age group (Study III).
Subjects then were classified not in terms of degree of interest but simply in terms of presence or absence of this attribute. In Study I (ages sixty to seventy-eight and above), 47% of the subjects (69% of the males and 29% of the females) reported some interest. In Study II, the incidence of interest was 56%. Age-related declines within each sample were observed and decline in incidence was seen as greater for females than for males. By the time of Study III (age range from sixty-six to seventy-eight and above), the total sample incidence figure was 53%. In all three studies, incidence of interest was higher among unmarried than married men. In the first two studies, unmarried women had a lower incidence than married women did but in Study III, the frequency was slightly higher than among married females.
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