Masturbation in Malta

For this research, a total of 400 individuals participated in a survey in which one of the topics explored was that of masturbation. It is important to note that masturbation is difficult to study because participants frequently experience sensitivity when responding to questions on the topic. In various research studies, it has been seen to make participants feel agitated and least likely to respond without much trepidation, which is why masturbation is one of the least precise sexual behaviours to be reported (Suchindran, & Campbell, 2000). One of the primary questions asked in relation to this was “What do you understand by the word masturbation?”

The participants’ answers could be separated into seven different categories. These included: self-pleasure (58.4%), self-stimulation of the genitals (29.7%), a sense of relief (5.9%), don’t know (3.1%), a sexual act (1.2%), other (0.9%), and pornography (0.7%). According to Kontula & Haavio-Mannila (2002), research shows that modern perceptions of masturbation bring similar results and consist of self-pleasuring, self-loving, self-caressing, self fondling and self-stimulating.

In a survey conducted in the UK, about 95% of men and 71% of women reported having masturbated at least once (Gerressu et al., 2008). In this research conducted by Sex Clinic Malta in conjunction with Sagalytics, in response to the question: “Have you ever masturbated alone?” 34.1% of females and 72.5% of males in Malta responded with “yes”. Studies have regularly shown that men are more likely to have ever masturbated, and also masturbate more frequently in comparison to women (Gerressu et al., 2008; Pinkerton et al., 2002). In this research, the frequency of masturbation according to gender (including values of 0), was 1.83 for females and 4.22 for males. Although small gender differences in reports of various sexual behaviours is common, a meta-analysis carried out by Petersen & Hyde (2010) found that, compared to thirty other sexual activities, the largest gender differences were found in prevalence of masturbation and pornography use. Generally, reported rates of having ever masturbated vary considerably, but studies consistently find significant gender differences (Pinkerton et al., 2002).

“Is your partner aware that you masturbate alone?” was another question asked to participants in this contemporary research. The results demonstrate that more than three-quarters of the respondents who masturbate alone and are not single tell their partner that they do so (76.9%). Kilic et al. (2020) convey that mutual masturbation is frequently not clearly defined and that one way of characterising it may be partner involvement or partner presence during self-stimulation, which may occur without, before, during, or after sexual intercourse. In this research study, when asked whether they masturbate alone, 69.2% of those who were single said “yes”, whilst 47% of those who were married also responded “yes” to this question. According to Greenberg (1972), men and women who have active partnered sex lives and regular access to a sex partner would conventionally masturbate less frequently than persons without partners. Nevertheless, in this research 70.1% of participants in a relationship responded “yes” to having masturbated alone, whilst 33.3% of those who were separated/divorced/annulled responded with “yes” to this question. Of those participants who were widowed, only 12.5% said that they had masturbated alone.

This research also found that 90% of those who were “not satisfied at all” with their sexual life responded “yes” to having masturbated alone before. Of the respondents who expressed satisfaction with their sexual life, 54% said that they had masturbated, whilst 46% said that they had not. Sexual satisfaction is conceptualised as a ‘cognitive global evaluation where an individual evaluates the overall quality of their sexual life based on a self-selected standard’ (Neto, 2012, as cited in Fischer & Traeen, 2022, p. 3151). Mostly, research on the association between masturbation and sexual satisfaction is limited and not so well understood since most studies only assess sex life satisfaction within a dyadic context (Fischer & Traeen, 2022). Nevertheless, results from Fischer & Traeen’s (2022) study revealed gender specific findings in the association between masturbation and intercourse frequency. According to the compensatory model, sexual self-stimulation functions as a substitute to channel sexual tension if dyadic sex is not possible (Das et al., 2009; Regnerus et al., 2017).

In this research, more than three-quarters of those aged less than 25 have masturbated alone (76.5%). Of those aged 26-35, 70.1% had masturbated, within the age group 36-45, 54.7%, within the age group 46-55, 58.1%, of those aged 56-65, 60%, and of those age 66+ years, the prevalence of participants who had masturbated dropped to 7.1%. Research by Fischer et al. (2022) on prevalence of masturbation amongst older adults in four European countries had similar findings in that they found that among adults aged 60–75 years in Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and Portugal, age was significantly and negativity related to masturbation frequency in Norwegian, Danish, and Belgian men. For Portuguese men, there was no relationship between age and masturbation activity (Fischer et al., 2022). In a US nationally representative survey of adults where Herbenick et al. (2022) aimed to assess the prevalence and frequency of participants’ prior-year masturbation, participants who were younger, who were men, and with a higher education were more likely to report both more recent and more frequent masturbation. In this research, similar findings occurred where the highest prevalence of individuals who answered “yes” to having masturbated was present in the youngest cohort. Additionally, those with the highest level of education have mostly masturbated alone (70.3%).

References

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Kontula, O., & Haavio-Mannila, E. (2003). Masturbation in a generational perspective. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 14(2–3), 49–83. https://doi.org/10.1300/J056v14n02_05

Leonard, A. (2010). An investigation of masturbation and coping style. In Poster Presented at the April (2010) 38th Annual Western Pennsylvania Undergraduate Psychology Conference.

Neto, F. (2012). The Satisfaction with Sex Life Scale. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 45(1), 18–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748175611422898

Petersen, J. L., & Hyde, J. S. (2010). A meta-analytic review of research on gender differences in sexuality, 1993–2007. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 21–38.

Pinkerton, S. D., Bogart, L. M., Cecil, H., & Abramson, P. R. (2003). Factors associated with masturbation in a collegiate sample. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, 14(2-3), 103-121.

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