Attitudes toward sex in the aged.

Eighty university students and 40 staff members of a nursing home for the aged rated their reactions to three stories: a neutral (decision-making) story, a coital story, and a masturbatory story. For each story, the age and gender of the main character were varied. Results indicated an absence of negative attitudes toward sex in the aged. However, sex in the aged was less credible than sex in young people. Nursing home staff members had more negative attitudes toward sexual stories than did the students. Gender of rater had little effect. Coitus was rated more favorably for the male character than for the female character, and the reverse was true for masturbation.