Sexual Disorders and Aging

Sexuality and aging is a multidimensional construct, including knowledge, attitudes, and a wide range of behaviors. Prevalence data indicate that many men and women engage in vaginal sex, oral sex, and masturbation well into their eighties and nineties. Findings also suggest that approximately half of all women and men in their seventies experience sexual dysfunction, including vaginal dryness and erectile dysfunction. Additional factors related to sexuality and aging include the availability of a partner, normative biological changes (e.g., menopause), the impact of illness (e.g., arthritis; diabetes; prostate and breast cancer), medications' sexual side effects, and the use of male performance enhancing drugs (e.g., Viagra). Emergent issues include the medicalization of elderly sexuality, awareness of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, challenges for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender elders, and the impact of technology (e.g., the Internet). Practice guidelines from the American Psychological Association emphasize a biopsychosocial perspective in which gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and age cohort must also be examined as contributing factors.