In bedroom, career, kids are top concerns; but comfort still an issue

Drug Store News, Sept 13, 2000

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- As chains contemplate ways to optimally position the OTC family planning segments, the results of a recent survey on adult relationships may provide retailers with some helpful insights on consumer attitudes.

For starters, the old "honey, I have a headache," is not the only factor affecting sexual intimacy these days. Physical factors take a back seat to the pressures of life, with work demands, children and lack of time topping the list of issues that affect a couple's sexual relationship, according to "Sex and Relationships," a survey conducted by the Vagisil Women's Health Center. How well a couple gets along and how often they share time as well as common goals and interests are the most important factors affecting a couple's sexual relationship, according to eight out of 10 survey respondents.

Of the 1,020 male and female adults polled, approximately 83 percent find sex very/somewhat important in a relationship. Among respondents aged 35 to 49 years old, 90 percent insist work demands affect sexual relationships. Seventy-five percent of the respondents said money affects a couple's sexual relationship. Children also affect a couple's relationship, according to 80 percent of respondents.

Still, as much as the pressures of life have impacted life in the bedroom, basic life changes are as much an issue today as ever before--especially given the aging of America's baby boom-laden consumer population. Common menopause-related symptoms such as vaginal dryness or lack of lubrication remain a major obstacle in the bedroom for some 24 percent of women. Twenty-five percent of women over 65 years old, who have experienced vaginal dryness, said it occurs every time, or at least most of the time, they engage in sex. Over all 71 percent of survey respondents cited physical discomfort as having had an effect on their sexual relationships.