WASHINGTON – The generation that promoted free love has grown old and cranky about sex.

Baby boomers are the unhappiest Americans of all when it comes to making love, a Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll shows.

Only 7 percent of people ages 45 to 65 describe themselves as extremely satisfied with their sex lives. And nearly a quarter of the boomers say they’re dissatisfied. Even among seniors, fewer are dissatisfied.

The findings in the survey of 1,532 people represent a stark turnaround for the group of Americans who spearheaded the sexual revolution, coming of age as birth control became readily available, premarital sex gained wider acceptance and abortion was legalized. The boomers also were many of the first victims of the AIDS epidemic.

Younger and older people report better feelings about their sex lives. Twenty four percent of boomers say they’re dissatisfied, compared with only 12 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds, 20 percent of those 30-44 and 17 percent of those older than 65.

Perhaps the boomers have given up on experimenting. A surprising number of baby boomers believe they’ve learned just about all there is to know about sex – nearly three in five women and half of men.

But if women are wiser, men are more disgruntled. Twenty-eight percent of men between 45 and 65 are dissatisfied, and more than two in five say their sex lives got worse in the past decade.