Do Sex Toys Make Me Satisfied? The Use of Sex Toys in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, and the UK

Figures & data

Table 1. Survey response rates across countries.

Country	No. of invited participants	Response rate	Clicked on survey link	Partial completion	Complete completion	In final analysis file
DK	4,746	45.51%	2,160	153	2,007	1,988
SWE	8,684	25.54%	2,218	212	2,006	2,006
FI	6,767	32.01%	2,166	155	2,011	2,009
NO	4,459	49.85%	2,223	196	2,027	2,023
FR	4,372	51.28%	2,242	227	2,015	2,014
UK	3,042	71.14%	2,164	159	2,005	2,004

“In final analysis file” represents the Ns in the files provided to the researchers at the University of Copenhagen.

Table 2. Demographics breakdown (in percent) of the sample, by country and for the full sample.

		DK	SWE	NO	FI	FR	UK	Overall Sample
		N = 1974	N = 1976	N = 1999	N = 1999	N = 1994	N = 2002	N = 11,994
Age (M(SD))		43.92 (15.07)	41.49 (14.85)	41.93 (14.82)	44.01 (15.02)	42.65 (12.11)	43.07 (14.67)	42.84 (14.95)
Gender
	Men	48.83	49.09	50.43	48.37	46.89	48.65	48.71
	Women	50.66	50.10	48.82	50.93	52.66	50.95	5.69
	Other	0.51	0.81	0.75	0.70	0.45	0.40	.60
Educational level
	Short	52.43	48.63	47.82	59.68	55.77	55.84	53.37
	Medium	35.87	39.68	40.87	25.56	33.50	34.02	34.90
	Long	11.70	11.69	11.31	14.76	10.73	10.14	11.72
Sexual orientation
	Heterosexual	77.71	72.37	73.04	80.14	78.69	81.62	77.27
	Homosexual	4.66	5.01	6.30	4.15	4.71	5.64	5.08
	Bisexual	7.65	8.55	10.46	8.60	6.87	7.24	8.23
	Asexual	1.87	2.73	2.15	2.25	2.41	1.00	2.07
	Other	1.98	2.94	1.95	1.55	1.91	0.90	1.87
	N/A	6.13	8.40	6.10	3.30	5.42	3.60	5.48
Relationship status
	Single (not dating)	27.56	28.90	27.16	30.67	27.28	23.48	27.50
	Single (dating)	11.35	13.01	9.75	8.50	9.28	8.19	1.01
	In a relationship (not living tog.)	8.92	10.83	10.16	10.66	10.88	8.14	9.93
	In a relationship (living tog.)	49.95	45.14	49.02	47.92	49.40	57.54	49.84
	Other	1.57	1.27	2.70	1.70	2.26	2.00	1.92
	N/A	0.66	0.86	1.20	0.55	0.90	0.65	.80
Relationship length
	Less than one year	4.65	5.52	4.65	4.01	4.16	3.12	4.31
	1–3 years	11.79	16.82	14.54	13.75	13.23	11.63	13.56
	4–6 years	14.37	14.38	14.03	12.04	12.73	13.92	13.57
	7–9 years	10.24	9.76	10.14	11.02	9.57	11.10	1.32
	10–12 years	10.50	8.77	11.92	10.67	9.82	11.79	1.62
	13–15 years	6.20	7.23	8.11	8.11	8.57	7.45	7.62
	16–18 years	4.91	5.79	6.09	6.23	5.99	7.00	6.02
	19–20 years	3.53	3.89	4.40	3.50	4.16	4.03	3.92
	More than 20 years	32.44	25.50	24.43	29.04	30.20	28.82	28.44
	N/A	1.38	2.35	1.69	1.62	1.58	1.14	1.61
Parental Status
	Yes, they still live at home	32.47	35.53	33.77	27.71	41.57	44.51	35.93
	Yes, but they have moved out/grown up	30.90	27.63	26.41	30.37	26.38	21.18	27.13
	No	36.63	36.84	39.82	41.92	32.05	34.32	36.93
No. of sexual partners
	0	3.50	3.85	3.95	2.65	4.51	1.80	3.37
	1–5	30.14	28.04	29.46	32.22	39.62	36.86	32.74
	6–10	19.96	18.52	17.61	17.86	19.11	20.88	18.99
	11–15	11.55	11.03	12.06	10.46	10.63	11.19	11.15
	16–20	6.84	7.39	7.25	6.70	6.17	7.74	7.02
	21–25	3.85	4.71	5.55	4.25	3.01	3.25	4.10
	26–30	4.15	4.66	3.55	3.40	2.46	2.75	3.49
	31–40	2.99	3.09	2.95	3.65	1.65	2.60	2.82
	40–50	2.23	2.07	1.70	2.30	1.25	1.95	1.92
	More than 50	5.22	6.58	6.20	7.80	4.66	4.75	5.87
	N/A	9.57	10.07	9.70	8.70	6.92	6.24	8.53

N/A = Do not know/want to answer. Relationship length was only assessed for those reporting that they were in a relationship. All figures are in percentages, except for age, for which we provide mean and standard deviation.

Table 3. Frequencies (in percent) of sex toy ownership and use of sex toys, by country.

	DK	SW	NO	FI	FR	UK	Chi-square p-value
	N = 1974	N = 1976	N = 1999	N = 1999	N = 1994	N = 2002
Do you own any sex toys? E.g., a vibrator, BDSM-equipment, a penis ring, or a dildo							p < .001
N/A	7.40	8.25	7.20	6.05	7.42	5.14
No, I have never	40.22	40.03	38.67	39.47	48.65	37.21
No, but I have in the past	15.30	15.23	15.11	14.91	15.20	15.83
Yes	37.08	36.49	39.02	39.57	28.74	41.81
	DK	SW	NO	FI	FR	UK
Ownership of specific sex toys	N = 732	N = 721	N = 780	N = 791	N = 573	N = 837	Chi-square p-value
Dildo	58.61	60.06	52.56	57.02	45.90	42.89	p < .001
Vibrator	61.34	65.46	66.03	66.75	61.61	79.33	p < .001
Penis ring	23.36	24.27	23.97	27.81	17.28	28.20	p < .001
Whip or paddles	15.85	15.95	12.69	16.31	10.99	15.05	p = .032
Anal sex toys	23.77	22.88	24.10	24.40	19.72	23.30	p = .408
Masturbation products for men	14.21	14.98	18.85	19.22	11.34	14.22	p < .001
BDSM-toys	11.20	11.51	10.38	11.63	11.34	9.80	p = .829
Strap-on	8.47	8.46	8.97	8.85	11.34	8.60	p = .477
Handcuffs	24.18	24.13	22.18	25.54	24.96	23.54	p = .725
Pelvic floor balls	12.70	18.86	16.03	20.35	12.74	7.29	p < .001
Number of sex toys, M (SD)^a	4.77 (5.58)	4.43 (5.33)	4.11 (4.83)	4.57 (5.41)	2.94 (3.46)	3.50 (3.45)	p < .001
	DK	SW	NO	FI	FR	UK
Use of Sex Toys	N = 732	N = 721	N = 780	N = 791	N = 573	N = 837	Chi-square p-value
Alone	55.19	60.75	64.49	66.88	55.50	55.68	p <.001
Steady partner	56.01	57.14	56.03	61.19	67.19	67.50	p <.001
Casual partners	12.70	13.04	11.67	12.39	9.42	10.04	p = .189
Other	2.87	2.08	2.69	1.52	2.62	1.91	p = .444
N/A	1.91	1.11	1.79	0.76	1.22	1.08	p = .310

N/A = Do not know/want to answer.

^aThese means represent raw means; the statistical test is based on an ANOVA test.

Table 4. Predictors of ownership of sex toys, number of sex toys, and frequency of use alone and with a partner: type 3 analysis of effects.

Effect	Wald χ2	P	χ2	p	F	p	ηp^2	F	p	ηp^2
	Ownership of sex toy^a		Number of sex toys^b		Frequency of use alone^b			Frequency of use with partner^c
Gender	224.700	<.001	18.50	<.001	278.14	<.001	0.066	93.55	<.001	0.034
Age	126.664	<.001	104.59	<.001	192.34	<.001	0.047	22.51	<.001	0.008
Sexual orientation	55.419	<.001	57.46	<.001	7.55	<.001	0.006	3.11	.026	0.004
Educational level	3.408	0.182	0.06	0.968	3.53	0.029	0.002	0.14	.872	<.001
Parent status	33.722	<.001	21.70	<.001	15.36	<.001	0.008	23.14	<.001	0.017
No. of sex partners	265.083	<.001	155.09	<.001	0.53	0.468	<.001	2.82	.093	0.001
Relationship status	62.336	<.001	37.60	<.001	53.48	<.001	0.039	2.68	.102	0.001
Country	60.757	<.001	119.41	<.001	4.61	<.001	0.006	2.90	.013	0.006
Relationship length	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	10.45	.001	0.004

Overall effect size estimates are not obtainable for logistic regression (i.e., ownership of sex toys) and negative binomial regression (i.e., number of sex toys). η_p² = partial eta squared, which measures the proportion of the variance in a dependent variable explained by an independent variable, partialling out other independent variables.

^aAnalyses focused on all respondents. ^bAnalyses containing only those that owned a sex toy. ^cAnalyses containing only those that owned sex toys and were in relationships.

Table 5. Predictors of sexual satisfaction, life satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction: type 3 analysis of effects.

Source		Sexual satisfaction			Life satisfaction			Relationship satisfaction^c
		F	p	ηp^2	F	p	ηp^2	F	p	ηp^2
Step 1^a
	Gender	0.49	.483	<.001	0.10	.746	<.001	2.95	.086	<.001
	Age	320.02	<.001	0.032	76.62	<.001	0.008	19.79	<.001	0.003
	Sexual orientation	2.47	.060	<.001	51.87	<.001	0.016	13.38	<.001	0.007
	Educational level	1.12	0328	<.001	7.19	<.001	0.002	1.54	.214	<.001
	Parent status	18.36	<.001	0.004	9.85	<.001	0.002	7.97	<.001	0.003
	No. of sex partners	0.46	.496	<.001	0.02	.878	<.001	11.00	<.001	0.002
	Relationship status	125.63	<.001	0.038	126.25	<.001	0.037	21.48	<.001	0.004
	Country	16.65	<.001	0.009	9.78	<.001	0.005	12.55	<.001	0.010
	Relationship length	–	–	–	–	–	–	47.53	<.001	0.008
Step 2
	Sex toy ownership (Yes/No)^a	13.77	<.001	<.001	45.84	<.001	0.005	37.11	<.001	0.006
	No. of sex toys^b	12.91	<.001	0.003	6.68	.010	0.002	1.90	.169	0.001
	Freq. of use alone^b	16.41	<.001	0.004	18.08	<.001	0.005	0.46	.496	<.001
	Freq. of use partnered^c	246.86	<.001	0.086	140.65	<.001	0.051	130.38	<.001	0.047
Step 3
	Sex toy ownership*Country^a	1.23	.293	<.001	0.80	.546	<.001	0.40	.846	<.001
	No. of toys*Country^b	2.14	.058	0.003	2.19	.053	0.003	0.63	.675	0.001
	Freq. of use alone *Country^b	1.18	.317	0.002	0.50	.773	0.001	0.82	.536	0.002
	Freq. of use partnered*Country^c	0.52	.761	0.001	0.96	.440	0.002	1.24	.290	0.002

η_p² = partial eta squared, which measures the proportion of the variance in a dependent variable explained by an independent variable, partialling out other independent variables (and interactions, in entered).

^aAnalyses focused on all respondents. ^bAnalyses containing only those that owned a sex toy. ^cAnalyses containing only those that owned sex toys and were in relationships.

Figure 1. Average levels of sexual satisfaction, life satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction, by country.