曾经有一则笑话是这样讲的：98％的人手?--而另外2％的人在撒谎。但最近，根据一项对美国成年人的代表性样调查显示，只有38％的妇女表示在过去一年里手?。而男性方面，这一数字为61％。

这项由芝加哥大学社会学家进行的研究，分析了源自3116名、年龄在18到60岁美国人的数据（其中1769名女性1347名男性）。这些人聚集在一起接受面对面访问，并将此访问作为国民健康及社会生活调查的一部分。

访问者的问题是：“在过去12个月里，平均算起来，你多久手?一次？”很可能是面对面这种形式抑制了人们的回答。一些人可能不会在访问者面前承认自己手?。然而就算是将这种可能考虑进去，有一点是很清楚的，手?绝对不像那则笑话描述的--或是像许多人认为的那样--那么普遍。

此前一些研究已经表明男人最有可能从青年时期一直手?到中年。在这项研究中，此结论在一定程度上是正确的。男人手?的比率在五十岁后稍微有所下降。但总体来说，手?的男人在晚年还会继续如此。

然而，很明显地，年轻女性需要时间为手?“热身”。在此项研究中，20岁至39岁的女性最有可能手?，而在18至20岁及40岁以上的女性中，比率要低一些。

此前一些研究同时表明：受教育越多，性念头越频繁，青春期前性尝试越多，有生之年性关系越广，就越可能手?。这一研究结果对两性都适用。

此前研究认为健康状况不佳时，手?次数会减少。在现在这项研究中，这一结果适用于女人，而不适用于男人。男人不管健康状况如何都会继续手?。

此前研究表明，比起那些 在宗教自由 或是 不必严守教规 的家庭中长大的人来说，在信奉正统基督教的家庭长大的人手?要少一些。现在这项研究也赞同此观点。

对于缺少爱侣的人，从传统上将手?视作一种便利的性发泄方式。现在这项研究认为这一点对于男女都属实。

现在这项研究中，白种人最热衷于手?。据报道，非裔美国人、亚裔美国人、太平洋岛国的人手?次数少些。美国文化中，手?经常被视为单身人群的性慰藉、一种对人际关系中缺少性的补偿方式。而在现在这样研究中，并不认为是这样。对于两性来说，在一个缺少♂♀的人际关系中，手?会受到抑制。手?最频繁的被调查者经常参与有性人际关系。似乎与伴侣***更加剧了他们对一个人进行的兴趣。

最后，性既包括肉体上的亲密，也包含着情感上的亲密。在这项研究中，如果这两个要素间有任何的脱节，比如只有身体接触却没有情感上紧密或是反其道行之，都会伴随着手?的次数增加。实际上，对于女性来讲，在一种缺少情感亲密的情爱关系中，最可能去手?。

令人沮丧的是，像大多数性调查一样，这项调查并未将60岁以上人群列入其中，尽管越来越多的研究文献表明，大多数六十岁以上的人依然有性行为。

概要：手?远没有人们想象中那么普遍，其频率取决于众多个人及社会生活物质因素。

【原文】

How Common Is Masturbation， Really?

by Michael Castleman

An old joke observes that 98 percent of people masturbate--and the other 2 percent are lying. But according to a recent study based on a representative sample of American adults， only 38 percent of women said they’d masturbated at all during the past year. The figure for men was 61 percent.

The study by University of Chicago sociologists analyzed data from 3，116 Americans aged 18 to 60 (1，769 women and 1，347 men) gathered during face-to-face interviews as part of the National Health and Social Life Survey. The interviewers asked， "On average， over the past 12 months， how often did you masturbate?" It’s possible that the face-to-face format suppressed respon*e. Some people might not have admitted masturbating to an interviewer. But even allowing for this possibility， it seems clear that masturbation is by no means as prevalent as the old joke suggests--or as many people believe.

Previous studies have shown that men are most likely to masturbate from their teens into middle age. That was partly true in this study. Men’s masturbation rate fell somewhat after age 50. But on the whole， men who masturbate continue to do so into later life.

However， it apparently takes young women some time to warm up to masturbation. In this study， women aged 20 to 39 were the most likely to masturbate， with lower rates among women 18 to 20 and those over 40.

Previous research has shown that masturbation becomes more likely with increased education， greater frequency of sexual thoughts， sexual experimentation before puberty， and larger number of lifetime sexual relation*hips. This study agreed for both sexes.

Previous studies have suggested that poor health reduces masturbation. In this study， that was true for women， but not for men. Men who masturbate keep doing it regardless of their health.

Previous studies have shown that compared with people raised in families that are religiously liberal or non-observant， those raised in fundamentalist families report less masturbation. This study agreed.

Traditionally， masturbation has been regarded as a convenient sexual outlet for people who lack a lover. In this study， that held true for both men and women.

In this study， white people were the most enthusiastic masturbators. African-Americans， Asian-Americans， and Pacific Islanders reported less masturbation.

In American culture， masturbation is often viewed as a sexual refuge for singles， as a way to compensate for a lack of sex in a relation*hip. In this survey， that turned out not to be the case. In both genders， a sexless relation*hip suppressed masturbation. Respondents who masturbated the most were usually involved in a sexual relation*hip. Having partner sex， it appears， piques interest in solo sex.

Finally， sex involves both physical and emotional closeness. In this study， any disconnect between these two elements， i.e.， physical contact but no emotional closeness or visa versa， was associated with increased masturbation. In fact， for women， one of the best predictors of masturbation was a relation*hip that lacked emotional intimacy.

Sadly， like most sex surveys， this one did not include people over 60， despite a growing research literature that most of those over 60 remain sexual.

Bottom line: Masturbation is con*iderably less prevalent than many people believe， and its frequency depends on many personal and socio-economic factors.

The study: Das， A. "Masturbation in the United States，" Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy (2007) 33:301.

原文引自：http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/200903/how-common-is-masturbation-really

翻译：M47