Association between experiences in older adults’ sexuality and biosociodemographic characteristics

Souza Júnior, Edison Vitório de; Rosa, Randson Souza; Brito, Suziane de Aguiar; Cruz, Diego Pires; Silva Filho, Benedito Fernandes da; Silva, Cristiane dos Santos; Sawada, Namie Okino

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

RESEARCH • Esc. Anna. Nery 26 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2177-9465-EAN-2021-0342 copy

Association between experiences in older adults’ sexuality and biosociodemographic characteristics

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Objective

to analyze the association between experiences in older adults’ sexuality and biosociodemographic characteristics.

Method

a cross-sectional study developed with 3,740 older adults. The participants filled out two instruments to obtain the biosociodemographic variables and on the experiences in sexuality. Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, with a 95% confidence interval for all analyses.

Results

there was a predominance of male participants (62.6%) who never received guidance on sexuality from health professionals (77.6%). The best experiences in sexuality were observed among male participants (p=0.002), aged between 60 and 74 years (p<0.001), self-declared brown (p<0.001), adherents to religions of African origins (p<0.001), who have a single partner (p<0.001), who live with their spouse for five years or less (p<0.001), who do not have children (p<0.001) and homosexuals (p<0.001).

Conclusion and implications for practice

all biosociodemographic variables were significantly associated with at least one dimension of the sexuality scale. In this sense, health professionals will have scientific and current evidence of the variables that most need attention in elder care with regard to their sexuality.

Keywords:
Family Health Strategy; Health Promotion; Health of the Elderly; Public Health; Sexuality

Variables	DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS		SEXUALITY
	DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS		Sexual act	Affective relationships	Physical and social adversity	Overall score
	n	%	Average ranks (AR)
Sex
Male	2,342	62.6	1924.84^†	1899.01	1917.01^†	1918.40^†
Female	1,391	37.2	1779.11^†	1825.75	1792.75^†	1791.32^†
Others	7	0.2	1849.14	1224.50	1758.71	1578.36
p-value	-	-	<0.001 ^* * Statistical significance by the Kruskal-Wallis test (p<0.05)	0.038*	0.003*	0.002*
Age (years)
60 - 64	1,830	48.9	1866.56^‡	1872.31^‡	1850.32	1867.05^‡
65 - 79	1,178	31.5	1915.23^§	1881.12^§	1871.87	1900.19^§
70-74	545	14.6	1890.00^\|\|	1908.84^\|\|	1931.27	1907.95^\|\|
75-79	153	4.1	1641.73^¶	1778.67	1820.00	1686.36
80 – 84	28	0.7	1086.73^‡,§,\|\|,¶	1156.36^‡,§,\|\|	2223.39	1143.00^‡,§,\|\|
85 – 90	3	0.1	757.00	678.00	1350.67	669.00
> 90	3	0.1	3261.50	2170.50	2403.00	2898.00
p-value	-	-	<0.001*	0.006*	0.303	<0.001*
Education
Primary	321	8.6	1866.46	1769.57	2021.54^†	1834.25
Elementary school	570	15.2	1851.24	1783.87^†	1938.96	1826.27
High school	1,371	36.7	1855.45	1856.66	1829.75^†	1850.41
Higher education	1,474	39.4	1895.05	1938.75^†	1848.87	1915.64
Without education	4	0.1	1050.63	1908.00	1932.00	1333.75
p-value	-	-	0.474	0.013*	0.024*	0.252
Ethnicity
White	2,494	66.7	1876.32	1900.69^†	1865.98	1888.40^†
Yellow	72	1.9	1500.75 ^†	1259.15^†,‡	2050.67	1378.82^†,‡
Black	191	5.1	1766.00	1676.73	1855.12	1721.90
Brown	911	24.4	1922.32^†	1886.12^‡	1875.68	1906.23^‡
Indigenous	26	0.7	1609.90	1689.58	2285.98	1666.48
Do not know	46	1.2	1688.63	1788.29	1559.97	1694.17
p-value	-	-	0.009*	<0.001*	0.079	<0.001*
Religion
Catholicism	1,949	52.1	1802.16^†,‡	1781.32^†,‡	1909.57	1794.70^†,‡
Protestantism	514	13.7	1913.12	1933.43^§,\|\|	1854.95	1923.44^§
Spiritualism	461	12.3	2062.16^†	2136.96^†,§	1783.73	2094.76^†
Of African origins	70	1.9	2376.90^‡,§	2338.33^‡,\|\|	2014.71	2416.13^‡,§
Other	357	9.5	1855.02	1850.41	1846.58	1850.60
No religion	389	10.4	1852.54^§	1852.66	1794.14	1834.61
p-value	-	-	<0.001*	<0.001*	0.105	<0.001*
Marital status
Married	2,328	62.2	1697.54^†,‡	1763.62^†,‡	1919.49^†	1724.36^†,‡
Stable union	707	18.9	2063.22^†,§	2030.79^†	1841.83	2057.52^†
With steady partner	705	18.9	2248.37^‡,§	2062.68^‡	1737.48^†	2165.53^‡
p-value	-	-	<0.001*	<0.001*	<0.001*	<0.001*
Time living with partner
≤5 years	673	18.0	2340.81^{†,‡,§,\|\|}	2163.74^†,‡	1739.14^†	2259.38^†,‡
Between 6 and 10 years	314	8.4	2148.26^†	2113.99	1754.86	2135.41
Between 11 and 15 years	276	7.4	2006.11^‡	1991.21	1885.28	2001.28^†
Between 16 and 20 years	228	6.1	1867.98^§	1846.15^†	1854.71	1863.58^‡
> 20 years	2,249	60.1	1674.59^\|\|	1736.41^‡	1925.74^†	1701.80
p-value	-	-	<0.001*	<0.001*	0.001	<0.001*
Live with children
Yes	1,081	28.9	1863.06^†	1808.35^†	1899.45	1841.74^†
No	2,474	66.1	1833.94^‡	1863.54^‡	1868.95	1844.88^‡
I do not have children	185	4.9	2402.89^†,‡	2326.71^†,‡	1722.12	2381.12^†,‡
p-value	-	-	<0.001*	<0.001*	0.115	<0.001*
Have you ever had sexual orientation?
Yes	837	22.4	1909.60	1942.84	1815.06	1918.29
Never	2,903	77.6	1859.23	1849.64	1886.49	1856.72
p-value	-	-	0.234	0.028 ^ Statistical significance by the Mann-Whitney test (p<0.05)	0.090	0.146
Sexual orientation
Heterosexuality	3,241	86.7	1889.98^†	1904.00^†	1854.74	1895.73^†,§
Homosexuality	91	2.4	2056.25^‡	1902.68^‡	1933.11	2018.33^‡
Bisexuality	64	1.7	1354.48^†,‡	1289.92^†,‡	1975.95	1317.09 ^†,‡
Others	344	9.2	1733.03	1654.38	1982.80	1696.63^§
p-value	-	-	<0.001*	<0.001*	0.146	<0.001*

ASESE INSTRUMENT QUESTIONS		Never		Rarely		Sometimes		Often		Always
		n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Dimension I - Sexual activity
	1. I have a favorable attitude towards sexuality in old age	244	6.5	311	8.3	780	20.9	930	24.9	1,475	39.4
	4. I desire my partner	163	4.4	274	7.3	660	17.6	971	26.0	1,672	44.7
	5. My partner and I have sex	248	6.6	513	13.7	974	26.0	1,213	32.4	792	21.2
	9. Sexual experiences are good for my self-esteem	106	2.8	163	4.4	365	9.8	511	13.7	2,595	69.4
	10. Enjoying my sexuality means being alive	126	3.4	96	2.6	309	8.3	412	11.0	2,797	74.8
	11. I feel wanted by my partner	224	6.0	353	9.4	848	22.7	767	20.5	1,548	41.4
	14. I find that having sex improves our relationship	232	6.2	194	5.2	592	15.8	653	17.5	2,069	55.3
	20. Sexual experiences make me feel more alive	143	3.8	129	3.4	346	9.3	508	13.6	2,614	69.9
	22. I notice the existence of desire in our relationship	255	6.8	331	8.9	705	18.9	821	22.0	1,628	43.5
	24. I believe that in old age I am still a beautiful person	122	3.3	215	5.7	1,020	27.3	728	19.5	1,655	44.3
	26. I feel good when we have sex	209	5.6	151	4.0	440	11.8	540	14.4	2,400	64.2
	28. Our sexual experiences are pleasurable	232	6.2	332	8.9	700	18.7	672	18.0	1,804	48.2
	29. I need the experiences of sexuality to live	389	10.4	221	5.9	778	20.8	747	20.0	1,605	42.9
	31. The practice of sexuality makes me feel good	116	3.1	89	2.4	476	12.7	631	16.9	2,428	64.9
	34. I express my sexuality without caring about what others think of me	491	13.1	290	7.8	599	16.0	559	14.9	1,801	48.2
	35. Me and my partner used to date	385	10.3	439	11.7	973	26.0	903	24.1	1,040	27.8
	36. As I age, I feel like I have lost interest in sex	1,696	45.3	694	18.6	984	26.3	174	4.7	192	5.1
	38. Kisses and caresses are part of the day to day of our relationship	403	10.8	465	12.4	788	21.1	714	19.1	1,370	36.6
	Dimension II - Affective relationships
	2. I enjoy being with my partner	126	3.4	274	7.3	545	14.6	750	20.1	2,045	54.7
	3. My partner and I enjoy privacy	111	3.0	271	7.2	508	13.6	749	20.0	2,101	56.2
	6. I feel that my partner has affection for me	131	3.5	262	7.0	743	19.9	803	21.5	1,801	48.2
	7. Me and my partner are friends	45	1.2	94	2.5	352	9.4	646	17.3	2,603	69.6
	8. I love my partner	76	2.0	154	4.1	377	10.1	480	12.8	2,653	70.9
	12. Our relationship is filled with a lot of affection	259	6.9	370	9.9	804	21.5	757	20.2	1,550	41.4
	13. I accept the changes caused by aging	238	6.4	248	6.6	965	25.8	559	14.9	1,730	46.3
	15. I am not ashamed or afraid to express to my partner how I feel	615	14.6	245	6.6	597	16.0	538	14.4	1,745	46.7
	16. I think sexuality in old age is normal	100	2.7	144	3.9	597	16.0	473	12.6	2,426	64.9
	17. I feel that my partner enjoys being with me	173	4.6	269	7.2	682	18.2	674	18.0	1,942	51.9
	18. Our relationship is based on companionship	116	3.1	154	4.1	420	11.2	720	19.3	2,330	62.3
	19. I notice the existence of love in our relationship	189	5.1	231	6.2	623	16.7	602	16.1	2,095	56.0
	21. I notice complicity in our relationship	256	6.8	281	7.5	594	15.9	659	17.6	1,950	52.1
	23. I feel affection for my partner	91	2.4	174	4.7	484	12.9	632	16.9	2,359	63.1
	25. I feel loved by my partner	190	5.1	267	7.1	661	17.7	588	15.7	2,034	54.4
	27. I know I can count on my partner	172	4.6	196	5.2	533	14.3	576	15.4	2,263	60.5
	33. Sexual experiences are important for older adults’ quality of life	103	2.8	123	3.3	581	15.5	615	16.4	2,318	62.0
	Dimension III - Physical and social adversities
	32. Some health problems interfere with my sexual experiences	884	23.6	513	13.7	1,439	38.5	441	11.8	463	12.4
	30. I am bothered by changes in my sexuality caused by aging	785	21.0	476	12.7	1,448	38.7	487	13.0	544	14.5
	37. I am afraid of being a victim of prejudice because of my attitudes towards sexuality	1,713	45.8	420	11.2	837	22.4	194	5.2	576	15.4

ASESE	M_d (IR)	M±SD	Minimum	Maximum	Variance
Sexual intercourse	73.00 (62.00-80.00)	69.66±13.70	21.00	88.00	187.76
Affective relationships	75.00 (63.00-81.00)	70.51±13.29	19.00	85.00	176.86
Physical and social adversity	8.00 (6.00-10.00)	7.96±3.10	3.00	15.00	9.63
GENERAL SEXUALITY	156.00 (134.00-168.00)	148.13±25.74	52.00	187.00	662.85

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rua Afonso Cavalcanti, 275, Cidade Nova, 20211-110 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil, Tel: +55 21 3398-0952 e 3398-0941 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: annaneryrevista@gmail.com

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Corresponding author: Edison Vitório de Souza Júnior edison.vitorio@usp.br