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AARP/Modern Maturity Sexuality Survey

Research Report

NFO Research, Inc.

August 1999


The AARP/Modern Maturity Sexuality Survey, a mail survey conducted by NFO Research, Inc. in March 1999, is one of the largest and most comprehensive, representative nationwide surveys of the sexual attitudes, activities and satisfaction of older adults that has been done in recent years. The survey found that

  • While a good sexual relationship is viewed as important to quality of life for a majority of older adults, the quality of interpersonal relationships is even more important.
  • Reported sexual activity declines for both men and women as health declines and many lose their partners.
  • Treatments currently available - which many sufferers are not now utilizing - offer hope of offsetting the health effects of aging on sexuality.
  • A generation gap in attitudes toward sexuality suggests that future generations of elders may not be as accepting of abstinence as the current older generation.
This 74-page report is based on the AARP/Modern Maturity Sexuality Survey by mail of 1,384 adults aged 45 and older. The survey was designed by the Modern Maturity editorial staff and the AARP Research Group with the assistance of Dr. John McKinlay of the New England Research Institutes. It was released at an August 3, 1999 press conference, and featured in the September-October 1999 issue of Modern Maturity.