YAŞLI CİNSELLİĞİNE YÖNELİK TUTUMLARIN İNCELENMESİ
Project no. 960 · Status: Kapanmış · 2017
Summary
With the increase in the elderly population in recent years, the number of researches on aging has been gradually increasing. However, it is known that studies on elderly sexuality have been neglected. Few numbers of studies on this subject have investigated the attitudes of healthcare professionals and university students towards elderly sexuality, not the older people. Therefore, the first purpose of this study was to compare the knowledge and attitudes towards elderly sexuality between young adults and late adults from a developmental perspective. The second aim of the current study was to investigate the predictive factors of attitudes towards elderly sexuality in late adulthood. The third aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between attitudes towards elderly sexuality and attitudes towards sexuality in early adulthood. A total of 206 early adults and 127 late adults participated in this study. The ages of university students varied between 18 and 27 (M = 21.41, SD = 1.94), while the ages of advanced adults ranged from 60 to 86 (M = 68.42, SD = 5.7). Ethical approval was obtained from Ufuk University Ethical Commission. The results of this study showed that 57.5% (n = 73) of late adults continued an active sexual life. It was reported that young adults have less knowledge about elderly sexuality than late adults, while late adults reported a more conservative attitude towards elderly sexuality than young adults. Moreover, marital satisfaction (ß = -.18, p = .046), physical health (ß = -.19, p = .034), and sexual myths (ß = .43, p < .001) variables significantly predicted attitudes towards elderly sexuality in late adults. Besides, there is a positive relationship between attitude towards sexuality and attitude towards the sexuality of the elderly in young adults. The results of this study, for the first time in our country, provide important contributions to both the practical implications and the theoretical literature by exploring the attitudes towards elderly sexuality with a holistic and developmental perspective. Key words: elderly sexuality, knowledge and attitude, early adulthood, late adulthood