[jobu]

200 people isn't a huge sample size, but the study is still very interesting. This part made me laugh:

With regards to sex lives, one of the most fascinating discoveries is that aging liberals have way more sex. Political ideology had no bearing on overall life satisfaction, but the most conservative men on average shut down their sex lives around age 68, while the most liberal men had healthy sex lives well into their 80s. Vaillant writes, “I have consulted urologists about this, they have no idea why it might be so.”

[pwnna]

It definitely is not a big sample size. However, considering that 200 people participated in the study for this many years.. I would say it is a big sample size just in terms of practicality (how many people would agree to participate in this? This study essentially becomes a part of their lives.. for all the time they live.)

[ekianjo]

Yeah, the profile of people who would agree to participate in this study is certainly "biased". Not sure what you can do with the results.

[pwnna]

This may be true, but I'm not sure how they are biased (what factors? Are these men more likely to be married because they're willing to go through such a study? More likely to not..).

[Bsharp]

Size isn't the only consideration.

If you sample 10,000 professional athletes, are you getting a sample population which represents 9-5ers and couch potatoes too?

[devgutt]

and this is really sad

[rwhitman]

The cohort of men who would have been undergrads in 1938 would have been in middle age at the time of the sexual revolution in the 60's and 70's. My guess is there was probably some political overlap with sexual-liberation, and that just unfolded in the bedroom into later life.

[cjc1083]

Might have something to do with the women those men are married to.

[sp332]

Not all of the men in the study are married, or stayed married until they were 68-80 years old.

[WalterSear]

Indeed. And how they relate to them.

[javert]

Marriage.

[WalterSear]

The kind of marriage where everyone has a job description, or the kind of marriage where people are open and honest and work together to make each other happy?