The Varieties of Masturbatory Experience: Prevalences in a U.S. National Sample and Recommendations for Future Investigations

Masturbation is prevalent across age groups. Yet, for how common it is, the literature on masturbation is very underdeveloped. A fundamental problem in past studies is a lack of careful operationalization of masturbation, and in turn, surveys that provide participants vague, confounded, or no definition of masturbation at all. To illustrate the wide range of different behaviors likely captured by past studies, we identified and precisely defined nine distinct masturbatory behaviors occurring in various contexts (solo, partnered, and group; with others in person or via remote connection). Using a large U.S. national dataset weighted to reflect key demographics (<i>N</i> = 3,423 adults), we found that, in terms of last-month engagement, some of these behaviors were very common, e.g., solo masturbation (59.4% of women, 76.7% of men), others were somewhat common, e.g., masturbation during partnered sex (24.3% of women, 26.5% of men), and some were rare, e.g., group masturbation (2.3% of women, 3.6% of men). Our goal is to highlight the importance of carefully operationalizing and defining masturbation in research designs and to strengthen the rigor of masturbation research more generally. Implications for understanding masturbation in terms models of sexual response, relationships, clinical practice, and education are discussed.