Online Sexual Activities in Italian Older Adults: The Role of Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Permissiveness

Abstract

Introduction Online sexual activities (OSAs) are sexual behaviors involving online sexual content and stimuli and are categorized into non-arousal (N-OSAs), solitary arousal (S-OSAs), and partnered arousal activities (P-OSAs). As such activities in older age remain largely underexamined, this study aimed to explore OSAs in a sample of Italian older adults, analyzing their associations with gender and sexual orientation, considering sexual permissiveness as a moderator. Methods One hundred and fourteen cisgender participants (85 men and 29 women) aged from 52 to 79 years old (M = 62.57, SD = 6.19) were recruited between September 2019 and January 2020 to participate in an online cross-sectional survey on OSAs. Results A total of 58.1% of participants had engaged in S-OSAs at least 2–3 times during the previous month, while a lower percentage of participants had engaged in N-OSAs (38.6%) and P-OSAs (29.9%) at least 2–3 times during the previous month. Men were more likely to be engaged in S-OSAs than women. Being non-heterosexual was associated with an increase in engagement in N-OSAs and S-OSAs, but not in P-OSAs. Sexual permissiveness was significantly associated with N-OSAs and S-OSAs, but not with P-OSAs, and did not moderate either the relationship of gender with OSAs or that of sexual orientation with OSAs. Conclusions This study sheds light on the need to include online resources in sexual health educational programs addressed at older people, as well as in training programs addressed at healthcare professionals and social workers working with this population.

Problematic and non-problematic engagement in Online Sexual Activities across the lifespan

“…In line with this hypothesis, Daneback et al (2005) found that the use of chats or webcams for sexual purposes steadily increased with age in women, but not in men: in women, this OSA reached its peak prevalence (37%) between 35-49 years old, whereas in men, peak prevalence (38%) was observed at an earlier age (between 18-28 years old). Finally, the use of the Internet to look for sexual education (i.e., non-arousal activity) across the lifespan seems to follow an inverted U-shape: in people between 12-24 years old, age is a positive predictor of online sexual information seeking (i.e., youth are more likely to search for sexual information online as they get older) (Nikkelen et al, 2020); however, the prevalence of this OSA tend to decline after this age, especially in older people (Scandurra et al, 2021).…”

The Usage of Voice in Sexualized Interactions with Technologies and Sexual Health Communication: An Overview

“…Moreover, the growing group of older adults exploring the possibilities the digital world offers for sex and love is another significant user segment. A recent study revealed that the online activities among older adults can be categorized into three groups: non-arousal activities (e.g., visiting educational websites or chatting on dating platforms), solitary arousal activities (e.g., watching pornography), and partnered arousal activities which involve at least one other individual (e.g., engaging in webcam sex) [54,55]. Hence, older adults are utilizing the digital space in the domains that align with application areas discussed in this work.…”

Attitudes toward sexual behaviors: relationship with gender and sexual orientation

“…Recent studies conducted in United States (Lentz & Zaikman, 2021;Leri & DelPriore, 2021) and Portugal (Silva et al, 2021) examining the effect of sexual orientation on sexual attitudes in women from the general population and young adults show that nonheterosexual women have more permissive sexual attitudes than heterosexual women. However, in Italy Scandurra et al (2022) explored the link between sexual orientation and sexual attitudes in men and women aged over 50 years and found no statistically significant relationship. In contrast, other studies in United States (Grollman, 2017;Nurius, 1983) and England (Swami et al, 2017) with both men and women samples found that non-heterosexuals have more liberal/erotophilic sexual attitudes than heterosexuals.…”

“…The main reason sexual attitudes have received so much attention is their relationship with sexual health (e.g., Carvalho et al, 2013;Sanders et al, 2006;Sierra et al, 2021) and sexual activity (e.g., Blanc et al, 2018b;Lemer et al, 2013). On the one hand, people with positive attitudes toward sexuality tend to report more permissive/liberal/erotophilic sexual attitudes than women (e.g., Ojedokun & Balogun, 2008;Ojo, 2014;Scandurra et al, 2022;Sprecher, 2013;Swami et al, 2017;Zuo et al, 2012).…”