Essay Example on Sex and Intimacy in Older Adults: Myths and Challenges

Introduction

Sex and intimacy are important in a person's life. However, it fails to receive the same level of acceptance in all ages. For example, in older adults, it is alleged that they are disinterested in sex and intimacy. Older people are challenged by ageist insolences and sensitivities that affect their sexual expressions. These myths about sex and intimacy in older adults come from the ideals of beauty, biomedical perspective on the sexuality of older adults, and the link between sex and reproduction. These myths have made older people internalize the ageist attitudes of sex and intimacy to an extent some of them become less sexually active. The following paper explores the myth that older people are less interested in sex and intimacy by analyzing two articles and evaluates the accuracy of the myth.

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Summary, Research Methods, and Findings

Article 1: Sexual Aging

The article, "Sexual Aging: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research on the Sexuality and Sexual Health of Older Adults," by Sinkovic and Towler 2018 was published in the qualitative health research journal, a peer-reviewed medical that publishes research on public health. In the article, the authors conducted a systematic review that examined qualitative literature on sexuality and sexual health of older adults.

Sinkovic and Towler (2018) conducted qualitative research on various databases such as PsycINFO, SocINDEX, MEDLINE, and CINAHL for articles that provided information on sexuality and sexual health in older adults. They analyzed 69 articles to find literature on the topic. The criteria set for articles in the databases was the age limit for older adults at 55 years and the focus was on sexual health. The 69 articles were those published in English peer-reviewed journals from 1990-2016 (Sinkovic & Towler, 2016). Their method of data collection was advantageous because it improved the methodological transparency of the review. The peer-review journals they chose in the databases laid out an objective baseline on the subject of sexual health of older adults and enabled more objective answers to the topic. However, the disadvantage of Sinkovic and Towler's (2018) method is that they may have wanted a different approach to measure their variables or use a specific method for data collection. Using existing data is challenging because important confounders and outcomes may not have been recorded in those articles.

The quantitative analysis of the data showed that sexual activity affects women more than men in old age. Also, results showed that factors, which affect the quality of sexual relationships in older adults include self-growth, self-confidence, and attitudes towards sexuality. Furthermore, in a Canadian article, it was found that in old age, emotional intimacy and connectedness affects sexuality. Results of this study are relatable to the social learning theory to explain sexuality in older adults. The factors such as self-growth, self-confidence, and attitudes towards sexuality, which affect sexual relationships in older adults depict that sex and intimacy in older adults is determined by the social learning theory.

Article 2: Health status, sexual activity, and satisfaction among older people in Britain

The article "Health status, sexual activity and satisfaction among older people in Britain: A Mixed-Method Study," by Erens, Mitchell, Gibson, Datta, Lewis, Field, and Wellings (2019) examined the prevalence, attitudes and experience of sexual activity in older adults. The article is peer-reviewed and was published in the journal PloS One.

Erens et al. (2019) used a mixed-method study to integrate data from the third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles with 3343 participants aged 55-74 years taking part in an interview. The authors did 23 follow up interviews with some of the participants. The authors combined qualitative and quantitative data to examine the phenomena of sexual activity in older adults. The advantage of the method used by researchers is that it yields more compelling evidence, which will be evident in the results section of this part. Besides that, the mixed-method study allows both inductive and deductive perspectives in research. One disadvantage is that it makes the research design complex.

Findings from the study revealed that 26.9% of men and 17.1% of women aged 55-74 had health issues that influenced their sexual activities. In that group, women were more likely than men to be sexually active in the past a half year (54.3% versus 62.0%) but were happy with their sex life (41.9% versus 42.1%). In follow-up meetings, ill-health influenced sexual activity in older adults. The authors found that where the effects of ill-health were distinguished, some older adults would still be sexually active. These findings are related to psychological developmental theory. The reason is that sex and intimacy in old age depend on the psychological development of the personal reasons of the individuals.

Evaluating the Myths Accuracy

According to the National Institute on Aging (2017), it is normal for older adults to engage in sexual activity. Considering the extensive research on the two articles, it is evident that the myth, which states that older adults are less intimate and sexually active is untrue. Findings from the two articles prove otherwise. For example, in the article by Sinkovic and Towler (2018), findings revealed that older adults are sexually active and intimate but it affects women more than men. Also, researchers of the article established that individual factors such as self-growth, self-confidence, and attitudes towards sexuality are likely to affect intimacy. Furthermore, the article by Erens, Mitchell, Gibson, Datta, Lewis, Field, and Wellings (2019) showed that older adults were happy with their sex life and that age-related illness is the only factor that affects their sex life. These results disprove the myth that older people are disinterested in sex and intimacy.

Analyzing Application of the Research to Change Social Perception

Without a doubt, older adults are exposed to both implicit and explicit sexual stigma beliefs. Among the many articles published in various journals, these two articles discussed in the paper can be used to change the social perception that older adults are disinterested in sex and intimacy. For example, in the article by Erens, Mitchell, Gibson, Datta, Lewis, Field, and Wellings (2019), some participants stated that sex in old age depends on familiarity and habit. Also, in the article by Sinkovic and Towler (2018), Canadian research should that sexual desire depended on emotional intimacy and connectedness. Such results would improve social perception. Instead of holding on to that myth, it would be significant for society to understand that intimacy and sex in old age are contingent with an individual's choices. Besides, illnesses can affect sexual activity in old age but that does mean the older population are less interested in sex and intimacy.

References

Erens, B., Mitchell, K. R., Gibson, L., Datta, J., Lewis, R., Field, N., & Wellings, K. (2019). Health status, sexual activity and satisfaction among older people in Britain: A mixed methods study. PloS one, 14(3), e0213835. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213835

National Institute on Aging. (2017). Sexuality in Later life. Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/sexuality-later-life

Sinkovic, M., & Towler, L. (2018). Sexual Aging: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research on the Sexuality and Sexual Health of Older Adults. Qualitative Health Research. 29. 104973231881983. 10.1177/1049732318819834.