# Looking for a detailed masturbation survey **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328 "2009-02-25T04:59:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/1 "2009-02-25T04:59:14Z")
No, not Kinsey. Something with good methodology. Preferably somewhat recent, say within the last ten years, but I’m not too picky. I’d like it to broken down by: 1. Sex 2. Age 3. Occurrence (per week? month?) 4. Percent of respondents who have never orgasmed 5. Percent of respondents who haven’t masturbated in the last year (or six months or whatever) 6. As a bonus, I would be most interested in additional surveys / data which aren’t from North America or Western Europe Thanks a lot, I’d really appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/2 "2009-02-26T01:32:15Z")
Bump. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/3 "2009-02-26T14:51:39Z")
You could try the two Hite reports on men’s and women’s sexuality. The back of those books have detailed statistical information. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/4 "2009-02-26T15:32:23Z")
There’s always Kinsey, although I’ve always been distrustful of his reports, at least as they pertain to the average American man and woman of the time. The main problem with surveys based on detailed questioning about sex, especially in the 40s, is that the sort of people who would agree to participate would not be representative of the population as a whole. Kinsey drew sweeping conclusions about the sexuality of Americans based on answers submitted by those Americans who would agree to respond to intrusive questions on their sexual practices. That would have been a small minority in the 40s, and I think it highly probable that their open attitude to sex, as reflected by their participation, would make their experiences and habits very different from those with more conservative attitudes. In short, Kinsey really found out only the sexual habits of people who take part in studies on sex. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/5 "2009-02-26T16:24:48Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > The main problem with surveys based on detailed questioning about sex, especially in the 40s, is that the sort of people who would agree to participate would not be representative of the population as a whole. That can be a problem with all types of surveys, but especially so in this case. An involuntary sample is basically needed to make a survey sample representative (any other type has self-selected sample bias). Which means calling up random people across the country at their homes to ask them about their sex/masturbation practices. Good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/6 "2009-02-26T17:14:15Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > That can be a problem with all types of surveys, but especially so in this case. An involuntary sample is basically needed to make a survey sample representative (any other type has self-selected sample bias). Which means calling up random people across the country at their homes to ask them about their sex/masturbation practices. Good luck with that. There was a lot of criticism of the Hite report for the same reason, and that was more anecdotal and much less scientific than Kinsey or Masters & Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/7 "2009-02-26T17:14:35Z")
Dear survey people, You’ve asked me to give a list of employees broken down by sex and age. I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. We have no one broken down by sex, though we have two broken down by alcohol, and one broken down by overwork. Our people always retire before being broken down by age. Sincerely, Nott ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/8 "2009-02-26T17:19:59Z")
Are there periodical-type journals that a university library might have that you could look at? One of them might have a study. Or if you have a large hospital nearby, their library might let you have access if you’re doing genuine research. Surely the appropriate professional organizations have journals that print studies like that. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/9 "2009-02-26T17:52:16Z")
He said “bonus”. ---
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/10 "2009-02-27T15:17:00Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > No, not Kinsey. Something with good methodology. Preferably somewhat recent, say within the last ten years, but I’m not too picky. > > I’d like it to broken down by: > > 1. Sex > 2. Age > 3. Occurrence (per week? month?) > 4. Percent of respondents who have never orgasmed > 5. Percent of respondents who haven’t masturbated in the last year (or six months or whatever) > 6. As a bonus, I would be most interested in additional surveys / data which aren’t from North America or Western Europe > > Thanks a lot, I’d really appreciate it. There’s a saying, "There are two kinds of people that masturbate: those who say they’ve never and those that say they’ve quit. ---
**Author:** ![Lungfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@Lungfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lungfish)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/11 "2009-02-27T15:58:26Z")
I am glad the OP is not too picky otherwise he/she is gonna be disappointed with this newspaper article: [Brits’ masturbation habits revealed](http://www.metro.co.uk/metrosexual/article.html?in_article_id=70843&in_page_id=8) ---
**Author:** ![Taenia\_spp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Taenia\_spp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taenia_spp)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/12 "2009-02-27T16:27:55Z")
A quick perusal of PubMed (a NIH service) yields this: [Sexual Behavior Later in Life](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=18165289&log$=activity). Masturbation is only a small part of that study, but it may give you a little bit of data. I doubt you’re going to find one study that encompasses all the points you’ve made in your OP, but you may try digging deeper into PubMed or looking at the table of contents in various human sexuality journals. If you can’t access the journal, I can excerpt a little data, but PM me. ETA: A possibly better study [A study of masturbatory knowledge and attitudes and relate factors among Taiwanese adolescents](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17806040&log$=activity). Edited Again: [Masturbation in the United States](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17541849&log$=activity) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/13 "2009-02-27T22:26:41Z")
> [@Yossarian](#): > > He said “bonus”. Yeah, I keep spelling it with an “er.” ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-detailed-masturbation-survey/487328/14 "2009-03-02T02:01:14Z")
**Taenia spp.:** Thanks, I’ve had some fun searching PubMed.