title: Masturbation in the United States.
abstract: Using data from the nationally representative National Health and Social Life Survey, this study queried the correlates of masturbation in the United States in 1992. Among those aged 18-60, 38% (CI, 35-41) of women and 61% (CI, 57-65) of men reported any masturbation over the preceding year. The system of factors underlying masturbation was similar for both genders, consistent with a convergence in gender patterns of sexual expression in the United States. Among both women and men, masturbation responded to a stable sexualized personality pattern, catalyzed by early-life factors and manifested in current sexual traits. Strikingly, the masturbation-partnered sex linkage, often conceptualized either as compensating for unsatisfying sex or complementing a satisfactory sex life, appeared to be bimodal for both genders. For some, masturbation complemented an active and pleasurable sex life, while among others, it compensated for a lack of partnered sex or satisfaction in sex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Population Research Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. adas@uchicago.edu
authors.forename: Aniruddha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008418:Masturbation / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012747:Sexual Partners; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology