Women’s sexual satisfaction in the context of midlife relationships: examining an ecological model

This study examined an ecological model of sexual satisfaction in midlife women. Participants were 1,411 midlife women who participated in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis that an ecological model – including the macrosystem level variable of religiosity, the exosystem level variables of SES, social support, and parenthood, the mesosystem level variables of affectual solidarity, relationship length, and sexual functioning, and the microsystem level variables of age, negative affect, and physical health – would together predict sexual satisfaction. Partial support for an ecological understanding of sexual satisfaction was found.