The life course in sexual development represents a critical framework for researching human experience across social science disciplines. Indeed, much research in sexuality is implicitly organized in life-course terms, either through the selection of a specific life-course period for examination (e.g., adolescence or the middle years) or by selecting some earlier period (most often childhood) and examining outcomes later in life. In recent years, the topic of human sexuality, and in particular the adolescent stage of development, has been especially significant to researchers, yet there is at best an intermittent research interest in sexuality in mid-life and among the aging, and neither of these areas have received the attention given to adolescent development. In acknowledging the steady graying of the baby-boom generation, life-course research on sexuality is needed to make a closer "examination" of this population in order to identify and analyze the changing sexual norms and experiences of aging adults. An important contribution in this endeavor would be to define a less biased and comprehensive framework that can encompass the diverse patterns of sexual behavior during middle and later life. This paper will address some of the current trends in sexuality research in this area -- what can be extrapolated about sexuality in the middle and later years from recent large scale research initiatives -- and will conclude with the ways researchers and scholars can more actively integrate a life-course perspective in their work, an approach that frames the more relevant and useful research questions in this regard.
Learning Objectives: Articulate the issues in incorporating a life-course perspective in research and identify current trends in sexuality research regarding the middle and later years of human development
Keywords: Aging, Sex
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.