Poll Puts Family, Money, Religion Ahead of Sex

Americans regard family, money and religion as more important than sexual satisfaction, but sex ranks ahead of happiness on the job, according to a survey released Friday.

The survey, designed to assess the attitudes of Americans toward sexual health, found that 82% of 500 adults rated a satisfying sex life as important or very important.

“Loving family relationships” was ranked as important or very important by 99% of those surveyed, while financial security was a point behind at 98%. In third place was religion and spiritual life at 86%.

Job satisfaction was last in the survey, rated as important or very important by only 79%.

Results of the telephone survey “show the importance the vast majority of American adults place on sexual health and relationships,” said Dr. Marianne J. Legato, director of the Partnership for Women’s Health at Columbia University.

The survey was conducted for a symposium on gender and human sexuality co-sponsored by Columbia University and the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health. The survey is based on opinions from 500 Americans, 25 and older, selected by random-digit telephone dialing, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The sexes were equally represented in the poll.

Age was not considered a factor in the importance attached to sex, the results show. The survey found that 94%, almost equally divided between men and women, agreed with the statement: “Enjoyable sexual relations add to a person’s quality of life, even when they grow older.”

Sex problems were frequent for 6% of those surveyed, occasional for 16% and rare for 30%. Nearly half--46%--said they never have sexual problems while 2% refused to answer.

When there are sex problems between partners, 47% agreed with the statement that the woman would be blamed more often than the man, while 42% disagreed. Among women in the survey, 57% thought women would be blamed more often for sex problems, while only 37% of the men said that.