TY  - JOUR
VL  - 9
JF  - BMJ Open
N1  - This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
TI  - Prevalence and types of sexual inactivity in Britain: analyses of national cross-sectional probability survey data
Y1  - 2019/10/28/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030708
ID  - discovery10085331
AV  - public
IS  - 10
N2  - Objectives To examine how prevalence and context of
sexual inactivity varies across the life-course, assess
dissatisfaction with sex life among those who are sexually
inactive and identify associations with factors that may
represent reasons for sexual inactivity.
Design Analysis of cross-sectional probability sample
survey data.
Setting British general population.
Participants 14 623 participants (n men: 6045
unweighted, 7245 weighted), aged 16?74 years, of the
third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles
(Natsal-3), undertaken in 2010?2012.
Main outcome measures Sexual inactivity, defined
as not reporting oral, vaginal or anal intercourse in the
past year and further categorised into those who were
sexually inexperienced (had never had sex), single or in a
relationship.
Results Overall, 15.9% (weighted n 1155/7245) of men
and 22.2% (1646/7410) of women were sexually inactive
(p<0.001). The proportion of sexually inactive individuals
who were sexually inexperienced was larger among men
than women (26.3% (304/1155) vs 16.3% (268/1646)),
while the proportion who were singles was larger among
women (49.8% (820/1646) vs 40.4% (467/1155)). Sexual
inexperience was the most common type of sexual
inactivity in early adulthood, with this declining with age.
A minority of those who had sexual experience but were
sexually inactive?34.8% (293/842) of men and 23.6%
(319/1349) of women?reported being dissatisfied with
their sex lives. Associations with sexual inactivity was
observed for a range of sociodemographics and sexual
behaviours/attitudes, for example, religion, ethnicity,
Body mass index, height, employment status and index of
multiple deprivation; these associations varied by type of
sexual inactivity and gender.
Conclusions While sex is important for well-being, a
non-negligible proportion of the population at all ages
are sexually inactive, yet many are not dissatisfied with
their situation, with implications for sex and relationship
counselling.
A1  - Ueda, P
A1  - Mercer, CH
SN  - 2044-6055
ER  -