Lyons Heidi A, Warner David F, Orbuch Terri L
The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309, USA.
The Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2025 Jan;54(1):189-203. doi: 10.1007/s10508-024-02956-9. Epub 2024 Aug 20.
A great deal of research has linked aspects of couples' sex lives to the quality of their relationships. Yet most of this work is with younger couples. Although sexual frequency is associated with positive marital quality, less is known regarding how sexual expression-sexual attitudes, desires, and behaviors-influences later positive and negative marital quality, particularly in older couples. Using latent class analysis and dyadic data on 620 heterosexual couples in long-term marriages from Rounds 2 and 3 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, we examined how couple-level configurations of sexual expression influence later marital quality. Generally, the latent classes with more agreement on sexual expression and higher overall sexual frequency were associated with later higher positive marital quality for both wives and husbands. Sexual expression configurations were associated with wives' negative marital quality, not husbands' negative marital quality. Across classes, wives' better mental health and husbands' functional limitations were associated with later marital quality. It is essential for practitioners to recognize the relevance of sexual expression to marital quality in older couples.
大量研究将夫妻性生活的各个方面与他们关系的质量联系起来。然而，这项工作大多是针对年轻夫妻的。虽然性频率与积极的婚姻质量相关，但关于性表达（性态度、欲望和行为）如何影响后来的积极和消极婚姻质量，尤其是在老年夫妻中，我们所知较少。利用国家社会生活、健康与老龄化项目第2轮和第3轮中620对长期婚姻中的异性恋夫妻的潜在类别分析和二元数据，我们研究了夫妻层面的性表达配置如何影响后来的婚姻质量。一般来说，在性表达上有更多共识且总体性频率较高的潜在类别与后来妻子和丈夫更高的积极婚姻质量相关。性表达配置与妻子的消极婚姻质量相关，而与丈夫的消极婚姻质量无关。在各个类别中，妻子更好的心理健康和丈夫的功能限制与后来的婚姻质量相关。从业者必须认识到性表达与老年夫妻婚姻质量的相关性。
