Emotional Intimacy and Distress About Sexual Difficulties in Partnered Older European Men and Women: A Network Analysis

Abstract

Although research in older individuals’ sexual health is steadily increasing, the nature of, and predictors related to, their distress about changes in sexual function have not been well-studied. Using data from sexually active and partnered 1,047 Norwegian and Danish women and men aged 60-75 years, this study employed network analysis to explore the structure of older individuals’ sexual distress and the role of emotional intimacy. Men’s network of sexual distress facets was more densely interconnected than women’s network. Higher emotional intimacy was associated with lower sexual distress levels across gender. The findings have implications for sexual health interventions targeting older people.

Keywords:

• Sexual difficulties
• distress
• emotional intimacy
• older individuals
• network analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 In this paper, we use the phrases distress about sexual difficulties (DASD), distressing sexual difficulties, and sexual distress interchangeably. In addition, the phrases sexual difficulties and sexual disturbances are used as synonyms.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway (Norges Forskningsråd) under Grant #250637.