Why Young Adults Have Less Sex Than Their Parents Had

Young adults don’t act like their parents: they don’t drink that muchthey face more mental health problems y live longer with mom and dad. In addition, video games and social networks have become a kind of substitute for physical relationships.

All of that means young Californians don’t have as much sex.

The number of young adults not having sex was already on the rise before covid-19 made dating more difficult and risky.

In 2011, about 22% of Californians ages 18 to 30 reported that they had not had a sexual partner in the previous 12 months. That rose to 29% in 2019, and jumped to 38% in 2021, according to the latest figures from the California Health Interview Survey from UCLA.

Other age groups in California also reported an increase in abstinence, but the trend was not as marked.

“Everything happens later,” he said Jean TwengeSan Diego State University Professor of Psychology, author of “Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents — And What They Mean for America’s Future.”

Twenge said the numbers reflect how young adults are increasingly delaying important life events, like moving out of the family home and starting long-term romantic relationships.

Singles have seen the most dramatic change.

For a long time, single people were the most likely to report not having sex, less than married or cohabiting. But as young adults delay marriage, the gap widens.

Young adults may be putting off long-term relationships “because of increasingly precarious economic status or stress related to completing education and looking for work,” he said. Lei Leia professor of sociology at Rutgers who was recently co-author of an article which examined why more young adults aren’t having sex. “They are busy with other aspects of life.”

The researchers also noted that hundreds of thousands of young adults identify as asexual.

Increased computer use may play a role in the trend. Young adults are increasingly forming relationships through video games with people they don’t know physically, Lei said. These long-distance relationships sometimes interfere with the formation of sexual relationships.

And Pew Research Center report from 2015 found equal numbers of men and women playing video games, but young adult men were more than three times as likely as young adult women to identify as serious “gamers.”

Young adults also have access to unlimited amounts of free pornography on the Internet, unlike the porno magazines and DVDs many of their parents bought.

Much of the most popular online pornography features violence or coercion, giving some young adults a distorted perspective on sex and alienating others altogether, he said. Debby Herbenickdirector of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at the Indiana University School of Public Health in Bloomington.

“That type of behavior is very, very seen as something normal among young people,” he said, referring to rough sex.

Sex also has a correlation with income. Young adults who earn less money are more likely not to have sex than their peers who earn more.

Much of the recent discourse about the lack of sex among young adults has revolved around so-called incels, young men who claim—often in a misogynistic derogatory tone—that dating apps like Tinder make it easier for women to find attractive, wealthy men. and status, leaving others aside.

Erin Tillmana certified sex educator and executive director of the nonprofit organization Sex-Positive Los Angeles, said it saddens her to hear men blame women for not wanting to have sex with them.

He added that those men could probably change their perspective and find intimacy. “They have the power to improve themselves,” she said.

The sexless life trend has the potential to reduce unplanned pregnancy rates. And it could also reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections, although that it hasn’t happened yet.

Herbenick does care about young adults who want sex but don’t have it. “You can feel very lonely if you feel like people are rejecting you or not interested in you,” she said.

But Tillman remains optimistic, noting that the latest batch of young adults, like each new generation, are finding their way and approaching sex differently than their parents.

“I’m not worried, because people are basically finding different ways to connect with each other,” Tillman said.

Phillip Reese is a data reporting specialist and assistant professor of journalism at California State University-Sacramento.

This story was produced byKFF Health Newswhich publishesCalifornia Healthlinean editorially independent service of theCalifornia Health Care Foundation.