Skip to main content
Log in

Distress About Sex: A National Survey of Women in Heterosexual Relationships

  • Published:
Archives of Sexual Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

As a consequence of the impact of Viagra on male sexual dysfunction, considerable attention is now being paid to sexual dysfunctions in women, which might respond to pharmacological treatment. Should women's sexual problems be conceptualized in the same way as men's? The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of distress about sexuality among women, and examine the predictors of such distress, including aspects of the woman's sexual experience, as well as other aspects of her current situation. A telephone survey of women used Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing and Telephone-Audio-Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing methodology to investigate respondents' sexual experiences in the previous month. A national probability sample was used of 987 White or Black/African American women aged 20–65 years, with English as first language, living for at least 6 months in a heterosexual relationship. The participation rate was 53.1%. Weighting was applied to increase the representativeness of the sample. A total of 24.4% of women reported marked distress about their sexual relationship and/or their own sexuality. The best predictors of sexual distress were markers of general emotional well-being and emotional relationship with the partner during sexual activity. Physical aspects of sexual response in women, including arousal, vaginal lubrication, and orgasm, were poor predictors. In general, the predictors of distress about sex did not fit well with the DSM-IV criteria for the diagnosis of sexual dysfunction in women. These findings are compared with those from other studies involving representative samples of women, and the conceptual issues involved in the use of terms such as “sexual problem” and “sexual dysfunction” are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., Text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bancroft, J. (2002a). The pill, sex and the politics of gender [Editorial]. Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality. Retrieved from www. medicalsexuality.org/html/toc/articles/mar_2002/editorial.asp.

  • Bancroft, J. (2002b). The medicalization of female sexual dysfunction. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 31, 451–455.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bancroft, J., Graham, C. A., & McCord, C. (2001). Conceptualizing women's sexual problems. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 27, 95–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bancroft, J., & Janssen, E. (2000). The dual control model of male sexual response: A theoretical approach to centrally mediated erectile dysfunction. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24, 571–579.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basson, R., Berman, J., Burnett, A., Derogatis, L., Ferguson, D., Fourcroy, J., et al. (2000). Report of the International Consensus Development Conference on Female Sexual Dysfunction: Definitions and classification. Journal of Urology, 163, 888–893.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berman, J. R., Berman, L., & Goldstein, I. (1999). Female sexual dysfunction: Incidence, pathophysiology, evaluation, and treatment options. Urology, 54, 385–391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cawood, E. H. H., & Bancroft, J. (1996). Steroid hormones, the menopause, sexuality and well–being of women. Psychological Medicine, 26, 925–936.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, K. M., Croft, P. R., & Hackett, G. I. (1998) Sexual problems: A study of the prevalence and need for health care in the general population. Family Practice, 15, 519–524.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fugl–Meyer, A. R., & Fugl–Meyer, K. (1999). Sexual disabilities, problems and satisfaction in 18–74 year old Swedes. Scandinavian Journal of Sexology, 2, 79–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, C. A., Catania, J. A., Brand, R., Duong, T., & Cranchola, J. A. (2002). Recalling sexual behaviors: A methodological analysis of memory recall bias via interviewing using the diary as gold standard. Manuscript submitted for publication.

  • Graham, C. A., Ramos, R., Bancroft, J., Maglaya, C., & Farley, T. M. M. (1995). The effects of steroidal contraceptives on the well–being and sexuality of women: A double blind, placebo–controlled, two centre study of combined and progestogen–only methods. Contraception, 52, 363–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groneman, C. (2000). Nymphomania: A history. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guay, A. T. (2001, May). Advances in the management of androgen deficiency in women. Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, 32–38.

  • Hawton, K., Gath, D., & Day, A. (1994). Sexual function in a community sample of middle–aged women with partners: Effects of age, marital, socio–economic, psychiatric, gynecological and menopausal factors. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 23, 375–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hosmer, D. W., & Lemeshow, S. (2000). Applied logistic regression (2nd ed., pp. 211–221). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Irvine, J. M. (1990). Disorders of desire. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laumann, E. O., Paik, A., & Rosen, R. C. (1999). Sexual dysfunctions in the United States: Prevalence and predictors. Journal of the American Medical Association, 281, 537–544.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, J. S. (1997). Regression models for categorical and limited dependent variables. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maines, R. P. (1999). The technology of orgasm. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, W. H., & Johnson, V. E. (1966). Human sexual response. Boston: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaelson, D., Bancroft, J., Targum, S., Kim, Y., & Tepner, R. (2000). Female sexual dysfunction associated with antidepressant administration: A randomized, placebo–controlled study of pharmacologic intervention. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 239–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborn, M., Hawton, K., & Gath, D. (1988). Sexual dysfunction among middle–aged women in the community. British Medical Journal, 296, 959–962.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, S. A., Graham, C. M., Bass, J., & Bancroft, J. (2001). A prospective study of the effects of oral contraceptives on sexuality and well–being and their relationship to discontinuation. Contraception, 64, 51–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segraves, R. T. (2001). Editor's comments. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 27, 81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, L. (1999). The wandering womb: A cultural history of outrageous beliefs about women. Amherst, NY: Prometheus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiefer, L. (1991). Historical, scientific, clinical and feminist criticisms of “The human sexual response cycle.” Annual Review of Sex Research, 2, 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiefer, L. (2001). A new view of women's sexual problems: Why new? Why now? Journal of Sex Research, 38, 89–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ware, J. E., Kosinski, M., & Keller, S. (1996). A 12–item Short–Form Health Survey (SF–12): Construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity. Medical Care, 34, 220–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ware, J. E., Kosinski, M., & Keller, S. (1998). SF–12. How to score the SF–12 Physical and Mental Health Summary Scales (3rd ed.). Lincoln, RI: Quality Metric.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, E. S. (1998) On the pill: A social history of oral contraceptives, 1950–1970. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Bancroft.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bancroft, J., Loftus, J. & Long, J.S. Distress About Sex: A National Survey of Women in Heterosexual Relationships. Arch Sex Behav 32, 193–208 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023420431760

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023420431760

Navigation