Sex drive decreases as intelligence increases

The following chart compares self-reported frequency of sex for married white U.S. born respondents aged 18-39:

Frequency Distribution
Cells contain: -Column percent -N of cases		WORDSUM
		1 0-4	2 5-7	3 8-10	ROW TOTAL
SEXFREQ	0: NOT AT ALL	2.0 5	.3 3	.3 1	.6 9
	1: ONCE OR TWICE	2.2 5	2.2 22	1.9 7	2.1 34
	2: ONCE A MONTH	5.2 13	5.6 55	9.5 35	6.4 103
	3: 2-3 TIMES A MONTH	14.5 36	17.6 173	21.9 80	18.1 290
	4: WEEKLY	24.5 61	27.7 273	29.2 107	27.5 441
	5: 2-3 PER WEEK	33.4 84	37.4 370	31.0 113	35.3 567
	6: 4+ PER WEEK	18.3 46	9.3 91	6.2 23	10.0 160
	COL TOTAL	100.0 251	100.0 987	100.0 365	100.0 1,603

This table overstates the effect of intelligence on sex drive, because sex drive also declines with age, and the higher Wordsum respondents in the sample tend to be older because higher Wordsum respondents marry later and because Wordsum increases with age up to the forties.

Doing a regression analysis on the same sample reveals that one point of Wordsum is equivalent to 1.5 years of age. In other words, based on these coefficients, a person of Wordsum 6 who is 30 years old is predicted to have the same frequency of sex as a person of Wordsum 10 who is 24 years old.

The R value for the regression analysis is only 0.179, so age and intelligence only account for a small amount of the variation in the sample.

Comments

[JewishAtheist]

How do you get from frequency of sex to sex drive? Surely there are other variables involved.

[spungen]

You win, Half Sigma. I am forced to concede the inferiority of intelligence. I should not really be surprised. 10 p.m. is prime weeknight sex time -- and look what I'm doing instead.

One silver lining: this could mean that at least smart men aren't less attractive to women. They're just less interested. Except in prostitutes.

[Half Sigma]

"I am forced to concede the inferiority of intelligence."

Saying that having less sex makes someone "inferior" is a value judgment.

Of course, from a Darwinian perspective, that makes intelligent people less "fit."

[AG]

Your finding just keep supporting Rushton's theory of r/K strategy.

[Alex]

I don't understand this study. It is extremely unscientific. Intelligence does not correlate with a WORDSUM score. It is likely that older people score higher because they have had more time to gain a vocabulary than those who can be considered younger.

Also, as JewishAtheist pointed out, less sex does not necessarily mean less sex drive. Actually, less sex may mean more sex drive if you look the chemical processes behind sex.

I suggest that you consider these factors (as well as others that the other commenters and myself have not pointed out) and try to redo this study.