Frequency of orgasm in non-clinical samples: A meta-analysis

Frequency of sexual activity is an important aspect of sexual health with extreme ends of the continuum being embedded in definitions of inhibited (e.g., low sexual desire) and disinhibited (e.g., hypersexuality) sexual response. Number of orgasms is one, albeit imperfect, measure of frequency of sexual activity. Clinicians and researchers have utilized a cut-off of seven orgasms per week to denote high frequency of sexual behaviour. The aim of this meta-analysis was to estimate the average number of orgasms per week in non-clinical samples to provide updated benchmarks for typical and atypical sexual behaviour frequency. We also estimated the number of females and males who meet the seven orgasms per week criterion. Twenty-nine studies met the selection criteria, reporting on 36 non-overlapping samples of 14,297 females and 9,111 males. The dependent variable was total sexual outlet (TSO), defined as the number of orgasms per week by any means (i.e., solitary and partnered sex). The average TSO was 2.52 for females and 4.38 for males, although considerable variability was observed across studies. Higher TSO averages were obtained in more recent studies, younger samples, samples with a lower proportion of straight participants, and samples with a higher proportion of single participants. A Monte Carlo simulation suggested that 2.1% of females and 24.0% of males met the seven orgasms per week criterion. Implications of these results in identifying hypersexuality as well as the place of orgasm frequency in the broader concept of compulsive sexual behaviour disorder are discussed.