Declining Sexual Activity and Desire in German Men. A Hartz 4 side effect?

Declining Sexual Activity and Desire in Men—Findings From Representative German Surveys, 2005 and 2016

From 2005? That's the start of the Hartz 4 government poverty concept. Could be one reason. If so, let's look at the positive side. Less fornication of Hartz 4 recipients means less chance of impregnation, means less children born into the lower class, means declining poverty (?).

Another reason could be that watching porn has increased. Third reason that men have become more quality conscious and that women just do not live up to expectations. Oops!

Abstract

Background

Surveys have indicated an increase of sexual activity in aging men; recently, however, a decrease of sexual activity has been reported in young men. 

To assess (i) sexual activity and desire and their determinants across the age range in a population-based male sample and (ii) their changes over 11 years.

Outcomes

Sexual activity was assessed as having been intimate with someone in the past year; frequency of sexual desire was evaluated within the past 4 weeks.

Results

The great majority of men cohabiting with a partner in 2016 was sexually active and indicated sexual desire until 70 years of age; half did so at an older age. Across the age range, men living without a partner reported considerably less sexual activity and desire. Compared with 2005, fewer men reported living with a partner. The overall proportion of men reporting sexual activity deceased from 81% to 73% in 2016 and absent sexual desire increased from 8% to 13%.

Clinical Translation

The findings highlight the relevance of living with a partner for sexual activity and desire. We advocate using a measure of sexual activity that encompasses many variants of intimate behavior.

Strengths and Limitations

Large and methodologically comparable population-based samples were compared. However, interpretations are limited by the absence of longitudinal data. We did not assess the effect of having a partner living elsewhere.

Conclusion

Sexual activity and desire decreased, especially in the young and middle-age groups. The decrease of men living with a partner contributed to this decreased sexual activity and desire. There was a generation effect, with younger and middle-age men living without a partner becoming less sexually active and experiencing less desire compared with the previous survey. The findings unveil changes in sexual activity and desire in a short time span.

More here