ArticleSexually transmitted infections2020
Navigating new sexual partnerships in midlife: a socioecological perspective on factors shaping STI risk perceptions and practices.
Article in Sexually transmitted infections, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Non-pharmacological interventions for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in older adults: A systematic review.PloS one · 2023Pooled it
- The barriers and enablers to accessing sexual health and sexual well-being services for midlife women (aged 40-65 years) in high-income countries: A mixed-methods systematic review.Women's health (London, England)Pooled it
- Qualitatively exploring opportunities and challenges for sexually transmitted infection prevention aimed at Canadian international retirement migrants wintering in the United States.BMC public health · 2026Article
- HIV/STI Prevention Strategies During COVID-19 Among PrEP-Eligible Cisgender Women in New York State: A Qualitative Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- The qualitative experience of sexuality in ageing women: a narrative review.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Review
- "Are they going to recollect who they need to contact?": understanding sexually transmitted infection transmission risks among older Canadians who winter in the United States.Tropical diseases, travel medicine and vaccines · 2025Article
- Adaptation and validation of a condom-related stigma scale for older adults in China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- A Meta-Ethnography of Women's Intimate and Sexual Experiences Across the Menopause Continuum.International journal of women's health · 2025Review
- Article
- Prevalence, Risk Factors and Vaccine Response against Hepatitis B in People Aged 50 Years or Older.Vaccines · 2023Article
- Menopause care in women living with HIV in the UK - A review.Journal of virus eradication · 2022Review
- Tailoring Sexual Health Interventions for Middle-Aged and Older Adults, Including Vulnerable Populations: A Scoping Review.International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2022Article
- Postmenopausal women in gynecological care.Przeglad menopauzalny = Menopause review · 2021Review
- Sex and aging: Perspectives of older adult women with experience of incarceration.Journal of women & agingArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveDespite increases in STIs among those over 40, little is known about the social context of STI transmission among people experiencing relationship transition in midlife, and few sexual health promotion initiatives are targeted at this group. This study sought to identify factors shaping STI risk perceptions and practices among midlife individuals either contemplating or having sex with new partners following the end of a long-term relationship.
methodsParticipants were purposively selected from respondents to Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, using three eligibility criteria: aged 40-59, reported experience of the end of a marital or cohabiting relationship with an opposite-sex partner in the past 5 years, and willingness to participate in a qualitative interview. Qualitative data were generated via face-to-face interviews with 10 women and 9 men and analysed inductively using thematic analysis, with themes then organised using a socioecological framework.
resultsParticipants' accounts of new sexual partnerships in midlife indicate that STI risk perceptions and practices are shaped by factors operating at multiple levels across the socioecological arena (individual, partnership, peers and communities, societal). Constraints on, and resources for, the navigation of sexual safety include self-perceived STI risk rooted in past rather than present circumstances; legacies of mistrust within former relationships; intersecting gender-age dynamics in negotiation of risk prevention strategies with new partners; peers and younger relatives' influences on understandings of sexual risk and safety; postrelationship change in social networks that increase or mitigate vulnerability to sexual risk; age-related barriers to accessing condoms; and disconnection from safer sex messaging and services culturally coded as for the young.
conclusionsImproving sexual health among midlife adults requires age-sensitive interventions designed to address multilevel constraints, and harness positive influences, on the navigation of sexual safety at this stage of life.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.