Little is known regarding how health practices, including exercise, nutrition, smoking, and alcohol consumption affect the sexual responding of women who are not in therapy or under medical treatment. Thus, the goals of this study were to examine how the aforementioned health practices, in conjunction with contextual factors (ie. relationship and employment status), as well as age and menopausal status were related to self-reported sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, and enjoyment among a sample of middle-aged adult, heterosexual women living throughout the U.S. These women were participants in the Tremin Research Program on Women’s Health, the world’s oldest ongoing, longitudinal study of menstruation and women’s health. As part of the longitudinal study, participants complete a yearly health survey (“The Midlife Women’s Health Survey” or MWHS) that includes the Sexual Responding Scale (SRS). On the SRS, women rated the desire, arousal, orgasm, and enjoyment that they felt during genital sexual activity with a partner on a 9-point likert scale from “nonexistent” to “very strong.” In a “Health and Well-Being” section of the MWHS, the respondents also indicated the frequency in which they engaged in exercise, smoking, drinking alcohol, and eating fatty foods, as well as rating their overall physical and emotional health. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated how health/well-being, the context of women’s lives, and their demographic backgrounds significantly impact their sexual responses
Conflict of Interest: None disclosed
Financial Support/Funding: None disclosed
Sydney, Australia, April 2007
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