Guest ContributorWhen it comes to sexual activity many adults assume many things about teens and young adults. But it may be surprising to learn that the younger generations are NOT as sexually active as we may think — in the traditional sense.
The latest findings from the Kinsey Institute* and Lovehoney–the global sexual happiness experts–revealed today’s young adults (Gen Z) are less sexually active than adults in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s. And a surprisingly large number of them say they’ve never had sex at all according to their survey and findings.
BTW, Generation Z (aka Gen Z), is described as those born generally between 1997 and 2010. It’s the group that is also the first full generation born right into the digital age — hello, parents of newborns who post images on social media of their freshly baked sweetie pies right in the delivery room! Then tablets in cars, in front of their faces at the restaurants, in the classroom — they’ve been constantly plugged in since inception.
Some interesting findings we’ve learned from the survey …
- Generation Z —are less sexually active than adults in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s and a surprisingly large number of them say they’ve never had sex at all.
- 1 in 4 Gen Z adults say they have yet to have partnered sex
- Compared to Gen X and Millennials, Gen Z seem to more likely report about fantasizing
- Gen Z is engaging more virtually – nearly half (46%) of young adults have engaged in online sexual activity
Further research found that when the U.S Supreme Court overturned the Roe V.Wade case, this also impacted this young generation. Lovehoney went back into the field to uncover how restrictions on reproductive rights make Gen Z even more sexually cautious.
In a Lovehoney’s post-Roe survey, data revealed …
- 40% of Gen Z adults say they are less likely to hook-up
- 15% are less likely to engage in sexual intercourse
- 68% of women report being worried that this will negatively affect their ability to have pleasurable sex
Dr. Justin Lehmiller, PhD — Social Psychologist, Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute, mentioned in a recent blog post for Lovehoney, “although Gen Z has the least experience with in-person sex, they actually have the most experience with online sexual behavior. Specifically, nearly half (46%) of young adults say they have engaged in some type of virtual or online sexual activity. However, they do not appear to count this as “having sex.”’
So, what’s changing their sexual behaviour? Read more about the findings here. So interesting!
And hey, parents of young adults heading off to college, university, and even high school, take this opportunity to have a chat with your kids about personal, healthy, safe, online, as well as consensual sexual activity.
This is an interesting infographic too…
*2,000 adults were surveyed in the US was conducted by the Kinsey Institute and Lovehoney
**lead photo Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash