Conventional wisdom holds that sexual desire burns brightest in early adulthood.
A large study has suggested otherwise, at least for men. It found that their libido, on average, does not peak in youth, but in middle age.
Using data from more than 67,000 adults aged 20 to 84, researchers found that men’s self-reported sexual appetite increased through early adulthood, reached its highest levels in the early forties, and then began a gradual decline. Only when men had reached their sixties had it fallen to match the levels observed in 20-year-olds.
According to the study, women’s average sexual desire was highest in early adulthood, roughly in the twenties to early thirties. After that it declined with age, with a sharper drop after about 50.
In the paper, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers argue that the finding about men is striking because it runs counter to the idea that desire is influenced primarily by biology and the relentless march of time
Levels of testosterone, the primary male sex hormone, begin to fall from the early thirties onwards. By contrast, sexual desire showed no sign of ebbing for another decade or so. Something else, the authors suggest, must be at work.
“The mid-life peak in men suggests that factors beyond biological ageing, such as relational dynamics, may play a more significant role than initially anticipated,” the researchers wrote.
“For example, men in their forties are more likely to be in stable long-term relationships, which have been associated with increased sexual activity and emotional intimacy.”
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The study, led by Dr Toivo Aavik of the University of Tartu, draws on the Estonian Biobank, a research programme which has recruited more than 200,000 adults in total. Participants completed a short survey asking how strong their sexual urges were and how often they thought about sex.
The researchers then examined how sexual desire varied with age, gender, sexual orientation, relationship status, children, education and occupation.
Men reported substantially higher levels of desire than women across almost the entire adult lifespan. It is worth stressing that, among both sexes, individuals varied enormously.
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Sexual orientation and education also made a difference. Bisexual participants tended to report higher-than-average desire. Meanwhile, participants with an undergraduate degree had the highest sexual desire scores, while those with postgraduate degrees had the lowest.
Relationship satisfaction played a small role. Happier couples reported slightly higher desire, but the effect was modest.
Some caution is warranted. The study measured what people said about their desire, and middle-aged men may be more at ease admitting sexual urges than their younger peers.
So-called cohort effects may also play a role. The study did not track individuals over several decades. Instead it compared people of different ages at a single point in time. Today’s forty-somethings were shaped in their formative years by different factors than today’s 20-year-olds.
Some high-status or physically demanding jobs were associated with higher desire, and more sedentary ones with lower. Professional military personnel, machine operators, vehicle drivers, and senior official managers tended to score highest for libido, while office and customer service workers scored lower.
For women, having more children was associated with lower sexual desire. For men, the opposite pattern emerged: desire tended to be higher among fathers, and higher still for those with larger families. Whether children dampen women’s desire or men with higher desire simply end up with more children is hard to say.