STEROID-HORMONES, THE MENOPAUSE, SEXUALITY AND WELL-BEING OF WOMEN

One hundred and forty-one women, aged 40-60 years, recruited from the community were assessed with an initial interview, plus four interview s at intervals of 1 week and blood samples. The objective was to inves tigate the determinants of sexuality and well-being in this sample. Me asures included interview ratings of sexual function, Frenken Sexual E xperience Scales and the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Determi nants evaluated, using multiple regression analysis, included age, men opausal status, BMI, smoking, ovarian steroids and adrenal androgens. None of the hormonal parameters significantly predicted measures of se xuality; the most important predictors were other aspects of the sexua l relationship, sexual attitudes and measures of well-being. The best predictor of both well-being and depression was tiredness. The only ho rmone positively related to well-being was dehydroepiandrosterone (DHE A).