ArticleMenopause (New York, N.Y.)2025
Masturbation frequency and experiences among US women aged 40-65 years: comparisons across different stages of the menopause transition.
Article in Menopause (New York, N.Y.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Beyond pleasure: exploring the role of sex toys in female sexual functioning and wellbeing-From enhancement to functional necessity.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe aims of the study were to assess the reported frequency of, and reasons for, masturbation and experiences of orgasm and sex toy use during masturbation and to compare these experiences across women at different stages of the menopause transition.
methodsA nationally representative US sample of 1,500 women aged 40-65 (M age: 52.5 y) completed an online survey asking about their experiences during masturbation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ 2 tests, and ANOVAs.
resultsOver half (55.8%) of the sample described themselves as postmenopausal, 22.7% as perimenopausal, and 21.5% as premenopausal. There were significant differences in the frequency of masturbation, with postmenopausal women reporting a lower frequency compared with the other 2 groups ( P < 0.014). Postmenopausal women also rated the importance of masturbation in their lives as lower compared with perimenopausal and premenopausal women ( P < 0.001). There were no group differences in the frequency of orgasm during masturbation, with women reporting orgasm an average of 81% of the times that they masturbated. Overall, more women reported that the quality of their orgasms had gotten better than worse over the last 10 years, and most noticed no change. More women reported that orgasm had become more difficult to attain, but about half had noticed no change. There were no significant group differences in the percentage of times that sex toys were used during masturbation (44.4% for the total sample).
conclusionsSexual pleasure and orgasm remain important for many older women and menopause is not always associated with adverse changes in sexuality, including the ability to orgasm during masturbation.
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