Patel, D., Gillespie, B. & Foxman, B. (2003). Sexual behavior of older women: Results of a random-digit-dialing survey of 2000 women in the United States. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 30, 216-220.(Sex Research Update)

Most national surveys of sexual behaviour conducted in the Western world have not included people 60 years of age or older. Consequently, our knowledge of the sexual behaviour of older people, particularly older women, is sparse. (Large-scale studies of erectile dysfunction have yielded some data on the sexual behaviour of older men.) As part of a random-digit-dialling telephone survey of female sexual behaviour in the United States, conducted in 1996, Patel, Gillespie, and Foxman collected data on sexual behaviour from 443 women aged 60 to 94.

There were large differences in partnered sexual activity between married and nonmarried women in the 60 to 94 age group. (The …