Later life sex differences in sexual psychology and behavior

Vance, Gavin; Shackelford, Todd K.; Weekes–Shackelford, Viviana A.; Abed, Mohaned G.

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2019.109730

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Notably, sexual desire concerns were strongest among women in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. This inverse association has been replicated and appears to be large and robust (Beutel et al, 2008;DeLamater & Sill, 2005;Vance et al, 2020). However, it is important to note that age is accompanied by a host of other physiological and psychological changes that may be driving reported decrements in sexual desire.…”

Section: Age and Sexual Desirementioning

confidence: 80%

“…Previous research provides support for variation in women's rate of reported sexual desire Meston & Stanton, 2017), suggesting that sexual desire may depend on a variety of contextual factors including age (e.g., Vance et al, 2020), having children (Low, 2015), relationship quality, satisfaction, or duration (e.g., Moor et al, 2021), and novelty (Toates, 2014). Below, I describe each of these contextual factors' association with sexual desire, relate these associations to evolutionary meta-theory, and highlight avenues for future research.…”

Section: How Can An Evolutionary Perspective Of Sexual Desire Offer Insight?mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…These differences persist across the lifespan and across romantic relationships. A study conducted by Buss and Schmitt in 1993, and has since been replicated (e.g., Buss & Schmitt, 2019;Schmitt, 2003;Vance et al, 2020), further illuminates sex differences in sexual desire; however, this study focused on the desire for sexual variety. The desire for sexual variety refers to the number of sexual partners an individual wishes to have at a given time point.…”

Section: Sex Differences In Sexual Desirementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to sex differences in sexual response cycles, sexual desire is different between men and women. For example, there are large and robust sex differences in the degree to which people fantasize about sex (Elis & Symons, 1990;Fisher et al, 2012;Vance et al, 2020). These differences persist across the lifespan and across romantic relationships.…”

Section: Sex Differences In Sexual Desirementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Age is tied to individual variation in sexual desire in men and women (Beutel et al, 2008;DeLamater & Sill, 2005;Hällström et al, 1990;Mulligan & Moss, 1991;Thomas, 1991;Vance et al, 2020). There is an inverse relationship between the two such that as individuals get older, sexual desire declines.…”

Section: Age and Sexual Desirementioning

confidence: 99%

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Copulatory Urgency: An Evolutionary Perspective of Women’s Sexual Desire

Crosby¹

2021

Preprint

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Despite the extensive empirical exploration of sexual desire, only one field explains the proper biological function of this phenomenon—evolutionary psychology. This chapter reviews women’s copulatory urgency—individual differences in the experience or intensity of sexual desire—from an evolutionary psychological perspective. An evolutionary psychological perspective of the function of sexual desire can shed light on how deficits in this motivational force may emerge, which may be useful for clinicians when helping patients understand the etiology of sexual desire concerns. An evolutionary psychological perspective of sexual desire further reveals: (1) why men and women differ in their experiences of sexual desire, (2) how natural selection produces individual differences in sexual desire, and (3) how extremes in sexual desire may be associated with hypersexuality, paraphilias, or an evolutionary mismatch between the adaptive problems faced during our species’ past and the challenges we face today. I begin the chapter by presenting a brief history of research on sexual desire and highlighting the limitations of early models of sexual responding. Next, I discuss the difficulties of measuring sexual desire, and explain how evolutionary meta-theory can be fruitful when examining context-dependent individual differences in sexual desire. I then describe the impact of several important contextual factors (e.g., age, relationship length, parental effort, partner habituation) on variation in women’s sexual desire responses and highlight avenues for future research. The chapter ends by discussing the qualities of compulsive sexual behavior and proposing that extreme variations in sexual desire as we currently understand them may be the result of an evolutionary mismatch. In sum, I suggest that scientists distinguish between sexual desire and sexual arousal, consider evolutionary meta-theory when thinking about context-dependent variation in sexual desire, and be cognizant of potential confounds when examining women’s sexual desire responses.

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Section: Age and Sexual Desirementioning

confidence: 80%