A few sexuality studies have been done on specific populations, such as adolescents and older adults. We will now review some of the more prominent studies.
Teens
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health, 2002) was initiated in 1994 to study the health and risk behaviors of children in grades 7 through 12. Researchers collected data on adolescents’ emotional health, sexuality, violence, and substance use. In 2001 and 2002, a nationally representative sample of over 125,000 18- to 26-year-olds were re-interviewed using interviews and questionnaires to investigate the influence that adolescence has on young adulthood.
The National Institute for Child Health and Human Development conducted the National Survey of Adolescent Males (NSAM), a longitudinal study on adolescent males, from 1988 to 1995 (National Institute for Child Health and Human Development,
2002) . This study was the first nationally representative survey of the sexual behavior of single adolescent males in the United States since 1979. The NSAM included face-to — face interviews and surveys from a nationally representative group of over 6,500 adolescent males. Researchers collected information on sexual and contraceptive histories and
attitudes about sexuality, contraception, and fatherhood. Respondents over the age of 18 submitted urine for STI tests. Overall, the findings from this study showed that a significant number of adolescent males engage in sexual activities beyond vaginal intercourse (such as mutual masturbation and oral and anal sex; Gates & Sonenstein, 2000).
Finally, another large-scale study of adolescent behavior, entitled the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS), has been collecting data since 1999. This study includes students in grades 9-12, and it is done every 2 years. We will discuss more about these studies in Chapter 8.
Prior to these three studies, Robert Sorenson published a classic study of adolescent behavior in 1973 entitled Adolescent Sexuality in Contemporary America. Participants included 411 adolescents aged 13 to 19. Sorenson was able to collect reliable information on frequency of masturbation, sexual activity, and homosexual behavior. However, many parents did not allow their teenagers to participate in his study, so we must use caution in generalizing the results of this study. Even so, Sorenson should be credited with the first comprehensive study of adolescent sexuality, and his specific findings will be reviewed in Chapter 8.
Another dated but classic study on adolescent sexuality was done by Melvin Zelnik and John Kantner. They studied the sexual and contraceptive behavior of 15- to 19-year — old females in 1971, 1976, and 1979. In the 1979 sample, they also included males, but their work was criticized for the limited focus of their study (very little information was collected on sexual behaviors other than sexual intercourse). The data from the Zelnik & Kantner study were used as a comparison for the NSAM study (mentioned above).
Seniors
Older adults were underrepresented in Kinsey’s research. The first study to recognize this, conducted by Bernard Starr and Marcella Weiner in 1981, explored the sexuality of 800 adults who were between the ages of 60 and 91. The questionnaire was composed of 50 open-ended questions about sexual experience, changes in sexuality that have occurred with age, sexual satisfaction, sex and widowhood, sexual interest, masturbation, orgasm, sexual likes and dislikes, and intimacy. The questionnaire was distributed after a lecture about sexuality in the elderly. Each participant was given a questionnaire and a self — addressed, stamped envelope in which to return it.
Sixty-five percent of respondents were female, and 35% were male (Starr & Weiner, 1981). The response rate was 14%, which is very low; therefore, the statistics may not be accurate for all seniors, and it is possible that the sample overrepresented seniors more interested in sex or with more active sex lives.
The study revealed that interest in sexuality continued in the later years, and many older adults felt that sexuality continued to be important for physical and emotional health as they aged. Although Kinsey’s research indicated that those over 60 had sexual intercourse once every 2 weeks, participants in Starr and Weiner’s group reported their frequency was 1.4 times a week. Many reported that they wished this number were higher. In addition, several respondents thought that sexuality was better in the later years, masturbation was acceptable, oral sex was pleasurable, and their sex lives were similar to, or better than, they had been in their younger years.
In 1983, Edward Brecher and the editors of Consumer Reports Books published another classic study of sexuality in the later years in a book entitled Love, Sex, and Aging (Brecher et al., 1984). A total of 4,246 men and women over the age of 50 were included in this study. The survey included questions on attitudes about sex, behaviors, and sexual concerns. Again it was found that older adults were indeed sexually active, even though society still thought of them in nonsexual terms.
Current research into elderly sexuality supports these earlier studies about sexual interest in aging adults. In a nationally representative survey of men and women over the age of 60, over half reported that they were sexually active (defined as engaging in masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, or vaginal intercourse; Dunn & Cutler, 2000). However, the percentages of sexually active elderly men and women decline with each decade. We will discuss all of these studies more in Chapter 14.