Age, Confidence are Big
Factors in Achieving Factors

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Factors such as age, confidence in one's sexual prowess and preference for either ``fast'' or ''slow'' sex help determine how often men and women achieve orgasm, according to a new survey of more than 2,200 adults in Finland.

Overall, individuals ``who have developed a perception that they are skilled and experienced lovers are more orgasmically responsive'' than those with less sexual self-esteem, conclude Dr. Carol Anderson Darling of the University of Florida in Tallahassee, and colleagues at the University of Helsinki and the Family Federation of Finland.

In their study, published in the August issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Sexology, Darling and her team examined data from national telephone surveys of Finnish adults conducted throughout the 1990s.

Interested in the effect of age on orgasm, the researchers broke their sample of 2,250 adults into four groups: young males and females (aged 18 to 49), and older males and females (aged 50 to 74).

Overall, Darling's team reports, 96% of men said they ''almost always'' or ``always'' experienced an orgasm during sex, compared with about 55% of women. Rates for consistent orgasm were highest among young men, lowest among older women.

Young men were more likely than young women to say they felt ``sexually skilled,'' the authors report, whereas young women tended to ``feel more sexually attractive'' than their male peers did. This type of sexual self-confidence--which was closely tied to frequency of orgasm, especially among women--was somewhat less common among older men and women, however.

The investigators note that the earlier in their sex lives that individuals experienced orgasm during intercourse, the more likely it was that they would consistently achieve orgasm throughout their later sex life.

Similar findings have surfaced in US-based research, suggesting that ``a greater time lapse between first intercourse and first orgasm was related to a greater tendency to pretend orgasms.'' In this way, a tendency toward ``faking'' orgasm may take root early in an individual's sexual life, the authors suggest.

The ``speed'' of individual sexual encounters also appeared to have an impact on men's and women's ability to achieve orgasm--but in radically different ways. Men of all ages told researchers that they often found sex ``too slow,'' hindering their ability to orgasm. But women took a decidedly more relaxed view of sex, frequently commenting that men went ``too fast,'' leaving them little time to climax.

Issues of love and security were important to all respondents, regardless of age or gender.

Among young women, for example, ``increased orgasmic responsiveness was associated with...a deeper commitment to their partners and the lack of extra-relationship partners,'' according to the researchers.

Commitment to a partner appeared to enhance older men's ability to achieve orgasm, as well. Darling's team speculates that ``since mature men have an increased tendency for experiencing impotence, they may be more comfortable in committed relationships where they can more openly deal with this issue.''

SOURCE: Scandinavian Journal of Sexology 2001;4:89-106.

Reference Source 89

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".