London - They say money can’t buy you happiness but, it seems, it might just improve your love life.
In a large-scale study, researchers found that those from the most affluent backgrounds reported higher levels of sexual enjoyment than their less-privileged counterparts.
Being comfortable financially apparently improves awareness of sexual needs, especially among women, they concluded.
Overall, the 10,000 men and women questioned were happy with the quality and quantity of their time in the bedroom, with nine in ten reporting that they were ‘quite’ or ‘very satisfied’.
But a deeper analysis of the data found a link between class and sexual enjoyment.
‘People of a lower socioeconomic status claim to be less satisfied sexually, which especially applies to women, who seem to be more influenced by factors,’ said Dr Dolores Ruiz, of the Barcelona Public Health Agency, which carried out the survey.
The study published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology said those who were more well off appeared to have a ‘better awareness of their own needs and a greater capacity for developing their sexuality in a way which is satisfying for them’.
They were also more likely to use contraception and less likely to have suffered sexual abuse.
‘Those people with a lower socioeconomic status are always those who use less contraception,’ said Dr Ruiz said.
‘Once again, it is particularly women of a lower socioeconomic status who suffer more experiences of sexual abuse.’
Respondents also reported higher satisfaction when they had a stable partner (97 percent of men, 96 percent of women) rather than a casual partner (88 percent men, 80 percent women).
In terms of safe sex, 77 percent of women and 73 percent of men had used contraception habitually with a stable partner during the last year, whereas in the case of a casual partner these rose to 92 percent for women and 86 percent for men. - Daily Mail