The researchers found large differences in sexual dysfunction based on social and economic status. Women aged 50 to 59 are one third as likely as younger women to experience pain during sex and half as likely to report non-pleasurable sex and sexual anxiety. Men experience great difficulty as they age, with men aged 50 to 59 being three and a half times more likely to experience erection problems than the 18 to 29 age group. However, age is not a factor for men who report climaxing too early, anxiety about performance and non-pleasurable sex. Married men and women report fewer problems with sex than those unmarried.
Unmarried women are one and a half times more likely to have trouble climaxing than married women.
Married men are less likely to report lack of desire or erection problems than unmarried men. High school dropouts are the most likely to have sexual problems. Among men, college graduates were two-thirds as likely to report climaxing too early as compared to men who did not complete high school. The researchers based their work on data from the National Health and Social Life Survey, which was conducted in 1992. The survey, the most comprehensive of its kind, included a national sample of 1,921 American women and 1,511 men aged 18 to 59.