Older couples who experience more agreement in their sexual expression, and engage in frequent sexual activity, report better marital quality over time. The group who exhibited a greater discrepancy in sexual activity between spouses reported the lowest levels of marital satisfaction.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-024-02956-9

From the linked article:

A new study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior has found that older couples who experience more agreement in their sexual expression, and engage in frequent sexual activity, report better marital quality over time. The research emphasizes the link between sexual behaviors, attitudes, and desires—collectively referred to as “sexual expression”—and their role in shaping both positive and negative aspects of marital quality.

When the researchers examined marital quality five years later, they found that couples who belonged to the “Versatile” group, with higher sexual frequency and mutual satisfaction, had the highest levels of positive marital quality for both husbands and wives. On the other hand, couples in the “Compensatory” group, who exhibited a greater discrepancy in sexual activity between spouses, reported the lowest levels of marital satisfaction.

Interestingly, sexual expression appeared to be more strongly associated with positive marital quality than negative marital quality. For example, couples in the “Traditionalist” and “Versatile” groups not only experienced higher marital satisfaction but also lower levels of conflict or tension compared to couples in the other two groups. In contrast, couples in the “Compensatory” group were more likely to report higher levels of negative marital quality, particularly among wives.