Emotional intimacy and sexual well-being in aging European couples: a cross-cultural mediation analysis

Abstract

Sexual health research tends to focus on problematic aspects of sexuality. This also applies to research on sexuality in older men and women, where attention has been primarily on the negative impact of aging. To contribute to the emerging interest in positive (successful) sexual aging, we aimed to: (1) further validate a recently developed 5-dimensional measure of sexual well-being (Štulhofer et al., 2018) and (2) explore the structure of associations among emotional intimacy, frequency of sexual intercourse, and sexual well-being in older European couples. Using data from a 2016 community-based survey of 218 Norwegian, 207 Danish, 135 Belgian, and 117 Portuguese couples aged 60-75 years, we applied actor-partner interdependence structural modeling approach to confirm the validity of the sexual well-being measure in couples and explore a path analytic model in which the frequency of sexual intercourse was hypothesized to mediate the association between emotional intimacy and sexual well-being. Although we observed consistent and significant actor effects, with emotional intimacy and frequency of sexual intercourse predicting both male and female partners' sexual well-being across countries, the proposed mediation was observed only in Norwegian and Portuguese men, and Norwegian and Belgian women. Partner effects were gender-specific; male partner's emotional intimacy was related to his female partner's reported frequency of sex and sexual well-being but not the other way around. Apart from being one of the few cross-cultural assessments of successful sexual aging, this study's findings support the use of a new sexual well-being measure in research on older adults' sexuality. Response to Reviewers: Editor: How was the sub-sample of couples recruited? Indeed, as it is formulated, it could mean that a selection of the couples was used which would need a clarification about how the selection was done. It may also be that the authors mean to say that for the study sample only the data of couples are used. Please, clarify.

Predicting partnered sexual activity among older adults in four European countries: the role of attitudes, health, and relationship factors

“…there are few studies that have used dyadic approaches to explore sexual satisfaction, particularly in older adults Štulhofer, Jurin, Graham, Janssen, & Traeen, 2019). This is regrettable, as recent evidence demonstrates how dynamics within couples can promote relationship quality and sexual satisfaction in midlife and older couples (Fisher et al, 2015;Orr et al, 2019).…”

Sexual Satisfaction in Older Heterosexual Couples From Four European Countries: Exploring the Roles of Actual and Perceived Discrepancy in Sexual Interest

“…We found that only perceived discrepancy in sexual interest predicted sexual satisfaction in older couples (Davies et al, 1999;Sutherland et al, 2015). In addition, the finding that emotional intimacy was important for sexual satisfaction in older heterosexual couples adds to an emerging body of literature concerning diverse, intimate, and erotically flexible pathways to healthy sexual aging (Clarke, 2006;Hinchliff et al, 2018;Müller et al, 2014;Sandberg, 2013;Štulhofer et al, 2020).…”

“…Four considerable gaps in the research literature can be observed. First, despite the fact that sexual relations are inherently dualistic (Byers & Rehman, 2014; De Jong & Reis, 2014), few studies have used dyadic approaches to explore sexual satisfaction, particularly in older adults (Muise et al, 2018;Štulhofer et al, 2020). This is regrettable, as recent evidence demonstrates how dynamics within couples can promote relationship quality and sexual satisfaction in midlife and older couples (Fisher et al, 2015;Orr et al, 2019).…”

Emotional Intimacy and Distress About Sexual Difficulties in Partnered Older European Men and Women: A Network Analysis

“…In their recent large-scale study, the authors observed a substantial overlap among these types of distress, with personal distress being the most prevalent and the other two types commonly cooccurring (Hendrickx et al, 2019). Considering consistent evidence on the link between emotional closeness, relationship quality, relationship satisfaction, and sexual functioning in older age (Fisher et al, 2015;Galinsky & Waite, 2014;Hinchliff et al, 2018;Štulhofer, Jurin, Graham, Janssen, & Traeen, 2019), the interrelatedness between personal, partner, and relational sexual distress is not surprising. As highlighted in a recent qualitative study (Hinchliff et al, 2018), the link between relationship quality and sexual distress is not unidirectional.…”