title: Sociodemographic Correlates of Sexlessness Among American Adults and Associations with Self-Reported Happiness Levels: Evidence from the U.S. General Social Survey.
abstract: Although sexual activity is commonly believed to be a key component of emotional well-being, little is known about the factors associated with the absence of sexual activity or its associations with self-reported happiness. Using the U.S. General Social Survey-National Death Index 2008 dataset, a series of nationally representative surveys (1988-2002), this study analyzed the sociodemographic and lifestyle factors associated with past-year sexlessness and self-reported happiness among American adults (n = 17,744). After adjustment for marital status, there were no significant time trends evident in the proportion of American adults reporting past-year sexlessness. Among participants (age = 18-89 years), 15.2% of males and 26.7% of females reported past-year sexlessness while 8.7% of males and 17.5% of females reported no sex for 5 years or more. For both genders, past-year sexlessness was most strongly associated with older age and being currently non-married in the multivariable models. Among males, the multivariable analysis also showed that sexlessness was associated with providing less than 20% of the household income (OR 2.27). In female participants, sexlessness was associated with very low income, poor health, lower financial satisfaction, absence of children, and having conservative sexual attitudes (OR 1.46-3.60). For both genders, Black race was associated with a much lower likelihood of sexlessness among currently non-married adults. The purported detrimental impact of sexlessness on self-reported happiness levels was not evident in this large, nationally representative study after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Sexless Americans reported very similar happiness levels as their sexually active counterparts.
authors.affiliation: The School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Jean H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Wilson S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Tam
authors.affiliation: The Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA. pm124@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muennig
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Abstinence; Asexuality; Celibacy; DSM-5; Sexual activity; Virginity