Introduction:

Sexuality continues to be a taboo to society, especially in the older adult stage.

Objective:

To evaluate the attitudes towards sexuality among the elderly in a rural community of Hidalgo State.

Material and Methods:

Quantitative-descriptive and cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 182 older adults from a rural community in Hidalgo State, to whom the Questionnaire on Attitudes Towards Sexuality in Old Age (CASV) and sociodemographic variables were applied.

Results:

The sample had an age range between 60 and 96 years old. It was identified that 56.6 % of all older adults, present negative attitudes. The attitude towards sexuality turned out to have significant differences with respect to age (p< 0.05), marital status (p< 0.05), and social environment (p< 0.001). On the other hand, prejudices and myths towards sexuality had a high correlation with the attitude of older adults towards their sexuality. In addition, the older adults surveyed mention that the problems with sexuality depend on aging (57.7 %), diseases (62.6 %); and medical treatments in old age (53.3 %).

Conclusions:

In general, older adults have a negative attitude towards sexuality, where the older they are the more negative attitude they have, as well as those who live alone, are widowed, or divorced. The myths and prejudices towards sexuality in the elderly play an important role in the attitude on this subject.

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