A Comparative Study of the Couple in the Social Organization of Sexuality in France and the United States - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2001 by John H. Gagnon, Alain Giami, Stuart Michaels, Patrick de Colomby

Overall, the proportion who report not having had a sexual partner in the past year is quite similar in France and the U.S.: About 10% of adults ages 18 to 59 in both countries report no sexual partner in the past year (8% of the men, about 10% of the women). Living in a couple appears as a major predictor of the likelihood of having had a sexual partner in the past year. Persons living in a couple in both countries follow an almost identical pattern, with over 95% reporting a sexual partner in the past year with a slight drop below this rate after age 50, except in the case of French women where this drop is not found.

On the other hand, a substantial minority of persons not living in a couple report no partner in the past year, with women reporting somewhat higher rates than men. Overall, about 20% of the men and a third of the women not living in a couple report not having had a partner. This average overall rate summarizes a generally increasing absence of sexual partners with age, especially after age 40. In the U.S. this decrease in sexual partnering with age is essentially monotonic, with some decline for each older age grouping except for men ages 30 to 39 compared to the 18- to 29-year-olds who report equivalent rates. In France, this change with age is not as clearly monotonic. There is even some indication of an increase in sexual partnering among the 30- to 39-year-olds compared to the 18- to 29-year-olds, followed by a strong decrease starting at age 40 that continues after age 50 for French women while remaining stable for French men.

Women ages 50 to 59 not living in a couple are much more likely not to have had a sexual partner in the past year than any other group. This rate is dramatically higher for U.S. women than French women (over 75% of the former as compared to 52% of the latter). Both groups of women differ from men in their respective countries in reporting rates at least 20% higher of not having had a sexual partner in the past year. This difference between men and women is likely due to the difference in age between men and women in heterosexual relationships, with men somewhat older than their partners. In addition, the dramatically higher rate of absence of sexual partners in the past year among U.S. women not living in a couple contributes to the overall difference between French womenand U.S. women between ages 50 and 59 when one combines women in couples and not in couples. About 10% of all French women ages 50 to 59 report no partner in the last year, which is the same rate found among French and U.S. men in this age group as compared to 27% of U.S. women, a rate that is two and a half times greater.

One or more sexual partners in the past year. We now turn to the question of number of partners in the past year among those who had at least one partner in this time period. Table 3 presents the percentage of French and U.S. adults ages 18 to 59 who had a single partner in the past year broken down by gender, age, and whether or not they were living with a sexual partner.