Sociodemographic conditioning factors of sexual activity in old age

Abstract

Older people continue to engage in sexual activity despite barriers related to health and other social aspects that could limit or alter it. The research has found that sociodemographic variables such as previous sexual activity, having a sexual partner or the time spent with them are considered determining factors of older people’s sexual activity. The objective of this research was to determine the sociodemographic factors (age, educational level, origin, existence of a current and previous partner) associated with sexual activity in the last year of 200 men and women aged between 62 and 91 years, residing in the City of Santa Rosa (El Oro, Ecuador). In addition, to collect sociodemographic data, the SRA-Q scale (Lee et al., 2016) was used to determine their sexual activity. The results suggest that, for the female sample, the existence of a partner, being under 70 years of age and coming from the coast, may be associated with sexual activity in the last year. However, the sociodemographic variables that could differentiate between sexually active men and those who have not had sexual activity in the last year are educational level and the existence of previous partners.