Menopause and Decreased Desire

Menopause and Decreased Desire
Cindy Meston, Ph.D., Brooke Seal, M.A., & Christopher Harte, B.A.

INTRODUCTION

Evidence that sexual desire impacts post-menopausal women’s overall sexual satisfaction point to the importance of conducting research that examines the relation between menopause and sexual desire. Women’s attitudes towards menopause, her past sexual experiences, how she views herself as a sexual being, and her individual preferences for what elicits desire are all factors that may differentiate those women who are able to pass through menopause without experiencing adverse sexual consequences, and those who are not.

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MENOPAUSE AND SEXUAL SATISFACTION

Research examining the relationship between menopausal status and sexual satisfaction suggest that it may be more what contributes to sexual satisfaction that changes with age or menopause than it is the actual level of satisfaction. For instance, the length of sexual interactions, sexual communication, sexual variety, engaging in mutual fondling, having satisfying orgasms, and being preoccupied with one’s own sexual performance are all important factors for level of sexual satisfaction in younger women, whereas for older women, good sexual communication is the primary factor. Similarly, researchers have found that among older women, satisfaction is more partner-related and less physically-related than for younger women, despite no overall differences in satisfaction.

In an effort to empirically examine the relative contribution of physical and relational aspects of sexuality to overall sexual satisfaction in menopausal women, Rellini, McDermott, & Meston (2005) interviewed 125 post-menopausal women on their satisfaction with the following aspects of their sexuality: overall sexual life, sexual desire, sexual arousal, orgasm, emotional closeness during sexual activity, and sexual relationship with their partner. Results indicated that satisfaction with physical aspects contributed the largest proportion of the variance in overall satisfaction with sexual desire, arousal, and orgasm. Satisfaction with relational aspects contributed 19% and 4% for sexual relationship and emotional closeness, respectively. Together, satisfaction with both physical and relational aspects of sexuality contributed 45.9% of the total variance in overall sexual satisfaction. The findings from the above preliminary study suggest that satisfaction with sexual desire contributes to overall sexual satisfaction among post-menopausal women.

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MENOPAUSE AND SEXUAL DESIRE

Numerous studies have documented age-related declines in sexual desire among a large proportion of women. A major challenge for researchers trying to understand the relation between menopause and sexual desire is disentangling the effects of aging from those of menopause. Results indicate that as women pass through the menopausal transition, ratings of sexual desire decline, with a substantial drop occurring around three years before amenorrhea is reported. This suggests that the decrease in sexual desire is attributable to the menopausal transition rather than to aging.

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CONCLUSIONS

Sexual satisfaction and sexual desire are linked in post-menopausal women, and desire decreases with menopause in a substantial proportion of women. The biological changes that occur during menopause could impact sexual desire either directly, by causing pain during sexuality, or via numerous more indirect mechanisms such as negatively affecting mood, energy, and/or body-image. Both partner-related factors and individual factors such as a woman’s sexual self-concept, her attitude towards menopause, her past sexuality, and her individual preference for what triggers desire could all play a role in determining whether menopause increases, decreases, or has no meaningful impact on her level of sexual desire and her overall concept of sexual satisfaction.

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