Are young men abstaining from sex?
New data released by the General Social Survey shares that more young Americans are taking a break from sexual activity, according to the Washington Post.
Nearly 1 in 4 respondents, but more specifically 23 percent, spent the past year without having any sex. A large number of these men were 20-something men.
In terms of their elder peers, the group of respondents 60-and-older reached 26 percent of the US population in 2018, according to the survey. 50 percent of that population expressed that they had not engaged in sex. This is one factor in the increasing reports of abstinence in the country.
But it’s not just the older generation that is reporting this string of no sex. The amount of Americans 18 to 29 who reported this occurrence in the past year turned to 23 percent. That’s more than double the amount in the time span between 2008 and 2018.
One reason for this hypothesized by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge is that many 20-somethings don’t have a live-in partner.
“There are more people in their twenties who don’t have a live-in partner,” she told the Washington Post. “So under those circumstances I think less sex is going to happen.”
Ultimately, it was the young men who were pulling the charge in this new no sex wave. Young men between 18 and 30 years of age saw one of the biggest declines in sexual activity, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. 28 percent of men in his bracket said they had no sex over the last year. Only 14 percent said the same back in 1989, and young women of the same age reported a higher rate of 18 percent.
Other possible factors in these numbers could be the increase in younger people still living at home. They thus have less opportunities to be sexually active. In addition, people are waiting longer to get married or to date as they try to find stable work in this tough economy.
This data comes just after the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also released data earlier this year indicating a decline in sexual activity in young people.
According to The Hill, the CDC’s January report shows that 41 percent of high school students reported having sexual intercourse. This is lower than the 47 percent in 2005 and 53 percent in 1995.
As an example, a quarter of 9th graders reported engaging in sex, which dropped by 10 percent from last year. Meanwhile, 10th graders dropped by 7 points.
The CDC’s hypothesis for these results was the effect of technology, social media, and federal warning against teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections on American teens.