Sexuality and Self-Esteem among the Aged

This study replicates one done on college-aged students (Stimson et al., 1978) and shows that substantially similar emotional and attitudinal factors underlie integrations of sexuality and self-evaluations for the groups in the earlier and the present studies. The persistence of standards and reference models from youth into age seems to have different effects on men and women. For the older man, an active sex life appears to be crucial to his feelings of self-worth and his feeling that he is respected by his friends and secure socially. As with the younger man, dissatisfaction with sexual activity is related to depression and feelings of worthlessness. For the older woman sexual behavior remains a separate activity dimension. One might think that this would protect older women from disintegrating self-evaluations, but where the younger woman derives confidence from feeling attractive, the older woman feels unattractive and therefore socially rejected and of less value.