SEXUALITY AND AGING: STUDIES ON HOMOSEXUALITY
Weinberg and Williams in their large sample study utilizing self-administered questionnaire data found that older male homosexuals were less involved than younger homosexuals in the social aspects of the gay life style. They associated less often with other homosexuals and attended bars and clubs much less frequently, making access to sexual partners more difficult. Fifty-six percent of the respondents under the age of twenty-six went to bars more than once a month compared with 23% of respondents over the age of forty-five. Thirty percent of those under twenty-six lived alone while 57% of older males did not have a roommate.
In frequency of sexual contact, younger respondents (under age twenty-six) and older respondents (over age forty-five) were more similar to one another than to those in intermediate age groups. The proportions of respondents who reported a high frequency of homosexual sex were 46%, 59%, 55%, and 41% for the age groups under twenty-six, twenty-six to thirty-five, thirty-six to forty-five, and over forty-five, respectively.
Weinberg’s and Williams’s study did not support the common view that, because the homosexual subculture values youth, older male homosexuals generally are poorly adjusted psychologically. On a number of psychological measures, older homosexuals compared with younger ones showed no differences in self-acceptance, degree of anxiety, depression, or loneliness. In fact, older respondents tended to have better self-concepts and were more stable. Weinberg) has suggested that the belief may have been perpetuated in part by “falsely attributing to the older homosexual the perspectives and expectations of the persons who hold these beliefs.” Younger people observing the sociosexual situations of the elderly view it from a perspective of their own needs and desires, and fail to realize that expectations change with age. Weinberg goes on to say that “the relatively good adjustment of our older subjects is not peculiar to the homosexual but is probably associated with characteristics of the aging process in general.”
Research reported by Francher and Henkin indicates that the “role change” experienced by male homosexuals is qualitatively different from that experienced by most heterosexual males. Generally relatively early in life, homosexuals go through a crisis which heterosexuals do not—the recognition and management of a socially unconventional and largely unaccepted sexual orientation and lifestyle. Once this has been faced, usually in early or mid-life, the response to a later life crisis— aging—differs. Absence of family responsibilities characterizes the homosexual lifestyle at every age; changes in family involvement (often representing a role crisis for heterosexual) do not occur. Further, these authors suggest that homosexual narcissism may help in coping with the role changes and declining sexuality associated with aging. There is a hint that some characteristics of the homosexual subculture may provide support for aging later on in life.
Saghir and Robins in an in-depth study of eighty-nine male and fifty-seven female homosexuals found that 28% of males were anxious about growing old. Thirty-eight percent said that when they grew old they would probably pay for sex, but over 25% were hoping for a stable homosexual relationship or several prolonged relationships. Only 12% of the female homosexuals expressed strong fears of growing old alone. More women (40%) than men (28%) hoped for a stable relationship in old age. A large percentage of both men and women in this sample indicated that they would participate more and more in nonsexual activities and relationships as they grew older.
These data suggest that homosexuals experience the same general age-related changes in behavior as heterosexuals do. In the homosexual samples reported, females were less sexually active than males, not in frequency of behavior but in incidence, and seemed to be more interested in long-term relationships. Interestingly, female homosexuals were less anxious than males were about growing old. This may reflect a juxtaposition of heterosexual male and female concerns about changes with age and may reflect basic male/female differences in perceiving the importance of human attributes in interacting with a social-sexual partner.
Homosexuals are as aware as heterosexuals are of changes occurring with aging. For the homosexual and particularly for the homosexual male these changes may require an altered life style. But the heterosexual also must change life style. There are different kinds of changes, but there is no evidence that the ability to adjust to them varies dramatically because of sexual orientation.
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