Recreational sexuality preferences among middle‐class husbands and wives

Abstract

Though the literature focusing on interpersonal sexuality continues to expand, little is known about how husbands and wives value their sexual and affectional activities compared to other outlets for their discretionary time. Preferences for discretionary sexual activity, other joint activities, and independent activities were examined as a function of the number of years married. A stratified area probability sample of middle‐class households yielded 227 husbands and 233 wives. Respondents completed a questionnaire that included items on leisure activities they most preferred. The proportion of husbands and wives who indicated a preference for “engaging in sexual or affectional activities” decreased as the number of years married increased. When other joint and independent activity types were examined over the marital career, it was found that husbands' preferences for other joint activities increased proportionally, whereas wives' preferences for independent activities increased. These results seem to point to husband‐wife perceptual differences regarding the nature of marital sexuality, toward a partial explanation of declining sexual activity over time, and toward husband‐wife differences in relation to preferences for the use of time.