Married couples begin having sex again after 50th anniversary

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
While couples typically find that they tend to have less active sex lives the longer they’ve been married, new research appearing in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior indicates that there’s new hope for men and women nearing their 50th wedding anniversary.
In the study, researchers from Louisiana State University, Florida State University and Baylor University report that there is a modest rebound in frequency of intercourse in marriages that last for more than half a century.
The researchers studied more than 1600 married adults between the ages of 57 and 85 in hopes of shedding some light on elderly hanky-panky.
Multiple hypotheses
The authors wrote that they “tested several hypotheses regarding the relationship between marital characteristics and sexual outcomes” and found that “individuals in their first marriage had more frequent sex than remarried individuals.” They also found that males typically had more frequent sex than women in younger marriages, and that relatively few couples can make it 50 years.
“Additionally, the study used a snapshot in time – and therefore cannot prove that length and order of marriage caused sexual frequency,” former Baylor researcher Dr. Samuel Stroope, who is now an assistant professor of sociology at LSU, said in a statement.
“Nevertheless, the study provided intriguing results for an age group whose sexual behavior has rarely been studied”, he added.
Length matters
He and his colleagues believe that sex tends to lose its appeal over time, leading to the decline in frequency, and that the permanency of the relationship might be responsible for the uptick later in life. As Dr. Stroope explained, the experience and knowledge that comes with couples growing old together could play a role in the phenomenon.
Longer relationships make it possible to “learn about your partner and build on that over time,” he explained. “You may have a higher level of trust when you feel that your spouse isn’t going to go anywhere. The expectation that the relationship will continue may give you more reason to invest in the relationship – including in sexual aspects of the relationship.”
What’s up with remarried people?
As for why people who have remarried have less frequent sex than those who remain with their first partners, Dr. Stroope said that it could be that they lack the sense of “permanence or lasting investment” that a husband or wife has when they spend their whole life with one partner.
Dr. Jeremy Uecker, an assistant professor of sociology at Baylor and a co-author of the study, said that the new study helps add to a small but growing amount of research on the sex practices and behaviors of seniors.
Dr. Strupe added that reduced marital conflict due to mellowing with age could also play a role in the increased sexual activity during the advanced years. We suggest that this concept applies to couples of all ages—spend less time fighting with each other and you’ll probably spend more time between the sheets.
While the researchers report that their findings could come as a surprise to many in today’s youth-oriented culture, they note that their findings echo those of other scientists that indicate that regular sexual activity remains a way of life for many older adults.
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