Over Half of Adults Worry About Libido

A mixed-method online survey of 1,317 adults, published in the *Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy*, recruited participants via the *Science Vs* podcast and combined multiple-choice with open-ended items to assess personal libido worries. The study, authored by Julianna T. Park, Samantha L. Levang, Melody Garas, Blythe Terrell, Wendy Zukerman, and Caroline F. Pukall, examined everyday concerns about sexual desire.

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57.1 % of respondents worried about their libido. Of those, 47.5 % reported low desire, 42.4 % a partner mismatch, and 6 % a drive that felt high. 44.3 % linked low desire to mental-health issues; reasons included body dissatisfaction.

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Women reported higher worry than men. Those in relationships of one to fifteen years worried more than partners in shorter or longer unions. Age had no clear effect. Heterosexual and sexual-minority respondents had similar desire levels, but the minoritized group expressed greater worry.

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Desire concerns are a leading reason couples seek therapy; research links low libido to stress, mental-health challenges, parenting duties, and life transitions. Viewing desire may reduce pathologizing and improve partner communication.

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Lead researcher Caroline F. Pukall said the project aimed to move beyond a clinical lens, capture desire across gender and sexual orientations, and use mixed-method data to identify patterns while preserving narratives; she cautioned the sample is not representative, warned against treating the results as prevalence estimates, and called for validated measures to guide education and clinical practice.

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Recruiting via a podcast audience introduces self-selection bias, limits generalizability, and the custom questionnaire lacks validation, hindering comparison with prior work. No strict definition of “libido” was given, and the survey did not separate spontaneous from responsive desire, creating uncertainty.

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The authors note the study cannot serve as a definitive prevalence estimate for the population, and variability in participants’ interpretation of “sex drive” leaves gaps in assessing true rates and demographic impacts.

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• “One finding that stood out was how many participants were worried about their libido,” — Caroline F. Pukall, Queen’s University

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• “Another notable finding was the extent to which participants linked low libido to mental health, stress, exhaustion, and parenting responsibilities, highlighting how connected sexual well-being is to overall well-being,” — Caroline F. Pukall, Queen’s University

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• “One important caveat is that this study should not be interpreted as showing how common libido concerns are in the general population,” — Caroline F. Pukall, Queen’s University

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• “An important next step is using more comprehensive, validated measures to better capture the many dimensions of sexual desire,” — Caroline F. Pukall, Queen’s University

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The team plans larger samples and validated desire scales. Future work will examine differences across gender identities, sexual orientations, cultural contexts, and life stages to inform therapeutic and educational resources.

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