If you are in your 60s, you and your partner may disagree about how many times to have sex, but you're probably still loving it, no matter how much you're getting. That's the short version of a reportdelivered recently at The British Sociological Association's annual conference.

Scientists collected data from more than 5,000 heterosexual, lesbian, gay and bisexual people aged 16 to 65. Test subjects were asked about their sexual relationships. The study reports that:

• around 60 percent agreed with a survey statement that sex was an important part of their relationship, with around 15 percent disagreeing. Others neither agreed nor disagreed.
• Around 33 percent of women agreed with the statement that their partners wanted sex more than they did, and 40 percent said this was not the case
• around 10 percent of men said that their partners wanted sex more than they did, and 60 percent said this was not the case.

"What's really interesting is that couples are saying that differences in sexual frequency and desire are just part and parcel of the relationship cycle and are accepted as not particularly significant," said Professor Jacqui Gabb in her presentation.

The researchers also noted how people's sex lives varied over the course of their relationships.

For heterosexual women, 20 percent said their partner wanted sex more than they did at the start of the relationship, rising to 45 percent among women in a relationship for 16 years, but falling to 36 percent among women in a relationship that had lasted over 20 years.

For LGB women, 15 percent believed their partner wanted sex more than they did at the beginning of the relationship; that number rose to 36 percent for those in a relationship had lasted 20 years, and fell to 15 percent for those in one that had lasted over 20 years.

Professor Gabb noted that, "Fluctuations in desire are inexorably tied into other life factors, but it is the sharing of a life together, the investment in that joint venture, and the acceptance of change as an integral part of this shared life which enables couples to weather the ebbs and flows that characterize sexual intimacy and the passage of time in long-term relationships.

The researchers concluded that the longevity of partnerships seems to be connected with a couples' capacity to navigate changing circumstances. When asked what they least liked about their relationship, women were more likely to choose 'not sharing childcare and housework fairly', 'poor communication' and 'money worries' than problems with sexual intimacy.