20 Jul Older Sexually Active Adults Report Better Quality of Life
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Alan J. Gow PhD, CPsychol, CSci, AFBPsS, FHEA
Associate Professor in Psychology
School of Life Sciences
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh
Taylor-Jane Flynn, who conducted the research is a recent graduate in psychology from Heriot-Watt, and is about to commence postgraduate training in Counseling Psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Gow: We were interested in exploring how sexual behaviours might be associated with quality of life in older adults. Ms. Taylor-Jane Flynn, who led on the research, noted “There is an abundance of research identifying factors that predict better health and well-being in later life, but sex is one that is under researched.” We asked our participants to report the frequency with which they engaged in six sexual behaviours from touching or holding hands to sexual intercourse, and then to also rate how important the behaviours were to them. Our results suggested that how often older adults engaged in sexual behaviours was positively associated with the quality of their social relationships. Interestingly, the importance of these sexual behaviours was found to be positively associated with their psychological quality of life.
Our recently published research on how sexual behaviours are associated with quality of life in older adults grew from Taylor-Jane’s work with older adults. She reflected “I found my inspiration for this study while working as a Health Care Assistant caring for older adults. In recent years, many of those who opened up to me on a personal level expressed their need and want to have intimacy and companionship in their lives. However, sex has generally been seen as a taboo subject, especially among older adults. Despite this, older adults shared in our conversations that they miss and want to engage in sexual behaviours, whether that be a kiss to intercourse, and for many these behaviours remained an important element in their life.” We were therefore keen to use these anecdotal accounts as a foundation for studying sexual behaviours as one of the many and varied determinants of wellbeing.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Gow: It’s important to note we can’t say the behaviours influenced quality of life, as our study was cross-sectional. We can only talk about how these things were associated. Our results suggested that how often older adults engaged in sexual behaviours was positively associated with the quality of their social relationships. Interestingly, the importance of these sexual behaviours was found to be positively associated with their psychological quality of life.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Gow: Ours was a relatively small study, so we weren’t able to explore the possible mechanisms through which sexual behaviours might influence quality of life, or indeed, vice versa. What we hope is that our current findings encourage other researchers interested in the determinants of health and wellbeing in older adults to also consider sexual behaviours. Taylor-Jane added, “In deciding to study how sexual behaviours might be associated with quality of life, it was interesting to see how little research existed in older adults. Previous work has, however, found that older adults continue to be sexually active and that sexual experiences have been associated with better health both physically and psychologically.”
Citation:
Examining associations between sexual behaviours and quality of life in older adults
Age Ageing first published online July 14, 2015
Taylor-Jane Flynn and Alan J. Gow
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Dr. Alan J. Gow PhD, CPsychol, CSci, AFBPsS, FHEA (2015). Older Sexually Active Adults Report Better Quality of Life
Last Updated on July 20, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD