Study: Men's Sex Drive Plummets if Their Wives Hang Out With the Husband's Male Friends

"Partner betweenness."

Yes, this is a scientific term researchers at the University of Chicago and Cornell University have coined to describe how men feel when their partners come between them and their friends.

You may think a man's wife getting along with his buddies would make his life much easier, but research by scientists at Cornell and Chicago show the opposite. It concludes that men's sex drives actually decrease significantly when their wives are close with their friends, especially in middle-aged and older men.

What's good for Monday night football and the obligatory dinner party can be terrible for a couple's intimate life, the study says. Scientists looked into the health records and details of social activities of 3,000 men aged between 57 and 85. They found that men who reported problems in their sex lives were much more likely to have the same circle of friends as their wives.

"In effect, the romantic partner comes between the man and his friends," says a report from the American Journal of Sociology. "Partner betweenness undermines men's feelings of autonomy and privacy, which are central to traditional concepts of masculinity....This can lead to overt conflict or problems with partner satisfaction and attraction."

Experts believe that a husband or wife's low libido is one of the main reasons why marriages break down. A report from The Daily Mail says partner betweenness as well as factors of age, illness and even not enough sleep can contribute to an unhappy union.