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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Happiness, rather than depression, is associated with sexual behaviour in partnered older adults | | Author(s) | Rosanne Freak-Poli, Gustavo di Castro Lima, Nese Direk |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 46, no 1, January 2017 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, January 2017 |
| Pages | pp 101-107 |
| Source | https://academic.oup.com/ageing |
| Keywords | Sexual activity ; Ageing process ; Depression ; Life satisfaction ; Well being ; Evaluation. |
| Annotation | The relation between positive psychological well-being (PPWB) and sexual behaviour is understudied in older adult groups. The objective of this study was to examine the relation between PPWB and sexual behaviour (sexual activity and physical tenderness) in older adults, and whether it is independent from depressive symptoms and uniform across older age groups. Study participants were a cross-section of community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older living in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Sexual behaviour, the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and partner status were assessed in 2,373 dementia-free older adults from the Rotterdam Study. For partnered participants, greater positive affect and life satisfaction was associated with more sexual activity and physical tenderness. Although CES-D was negatively associated with sexual behaviour within partnered older adults, there was no association between the negative affect sub-scale and sexual behaviour. The relations were independent of depressive symptoms, physical health and chronic disease status and were observed for both sexes at all older ages. For unpartnered participants, greater life satisfaction was associated with more physical tenderness. There was low prevalence of sexual behaviour in unpartnered participants, limiting further stratification. Overall findings showed that greater PPWB was associated with more sexual behaviour in partnered, community-dwelling older adults. This was the first study to demonstrate that sexual behaviour is associated with PPWB, rather than lack of depressive symptoms. This association is present at all ages for partnered older adults. Limited conclusions can be drawn for unpartnered older adults as their sexual behaviour is infrequent. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-170310205 A |
| Classmark | BIU: BG: ENR: F:5HH: D:F:5HH: 4C |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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