Do young people have less casual sex than older people? – 06/04/2023 – Balance

International studies from the last decade point out that young people, especially members of generation Z, are having less and less casual sex. Recent analyzes in the US suggest that teenagers and people in early adulthood are increasingly less likely to have sex outside of a romantic relationship.

The reasons for this possible reduction in uncommitted sex, however, are still unknown and may mask different realities. Expert hypotheses indicate technology, social isolation and reduced alcohol consumption as possible causes. Leaving the parental home late and living less in person are factors that may also have an influence.

Financial consultant Carolina Faria, 22, started dating at age 18 while in college. Even before higher education, the focus on studies and work consumed most of her time.

“There was a moment of wanting to meet and relate, but since the beginning of my adult phase I’ve been in a steady relationship. I have friends who spend more time trying to find out, but what I feel in my generation is that we have a peak and then it goes looking for more stability”, he says.

There are those who argue that the perception of less sexual activity among adolescents and young adults is just the result of a moment of transition, and that they, in fact, are part of the group with more access. Familiarity with new ways of relating sexually over the internet, often not counted as sex, and greater romantic openness between genders would be justifications.

Psychiatrist Eduardo Perin, specialist in cognitive-behavioral therapy at the Anxiety Outpatient Clinic of the Hospital das Clínicas at USP (University of São Paulo) and in sexuality at the Instituto Paulista de Sexualidade, points out that falls do not affect all young people.

“In the office, what I see is that, in part, there is a portion of this younger population that really has not started sexual activity because they still live with their parents and have little sociability, much at home, without other activities besides school and this got worse with the pandemic”, says Perin.

An opposite movement, however, exposes an earlier sexual openness. “There are young people who have sexually matured earlier, experiencing other sexual situations that were previously not allowed or socially welcome, such as activities between people of the same gender. I see two sides of the coin”, he points out.

The specialist points out that the internet would also have contributed to changes in the sexual lives of the new generations. “Internet dating, use of social media for virtual sex, for exchanging photos, videos and camera for masturbation in real time. For many this may not be exactly sex, but it is a sexual activity.”

A study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior points out that, from 2009 to 2018, the proportion of adolescents who reported no sexual activity, alone or accompanied, increased from 28.8% to 44.2% among boys and from 49.5% to 74% among girls.

The work was based on the US national survey of sexual health and behavior, which evaluated responses from 1,647 young people aged 14 to 17 years. “For both adolescents and adults, we observed reductions in all modes of sex with questioned partners and, for adolescents, reductions in solo masturbation,” the authors point out.

The decline is also highlighted in the article “Why Are Fewer Young Adults Having Casual Sex? (Why fewer young adults are having casual sex, in Portuguese), published in 2021 in the journal of the North American Sociological Association. between 2007 and 2017, there was a significant drop in youth sexual activity.

The researchers considered a database that had information on about 2,000 young single Americans. The percentage of men aged 18 to 23 who had casual sex in the month prior to the survey had dropped from 38% to 24%. Among women of the same age, the number was reduced from 31% to 22%.

In the case of young men, gender also decreased as the frequency of using computer games increased. The study indicates that those who live with their parents are 63% less likely to have casual sex.

Alcohol proved to be the most decisive factor: those who drank had a 5.5-fold increase in their chances of engaging in sexual activity.

For sexologist Bruna Romanato, the new generation, already born in the digital environment, suffers a major impact from growing technology and easy access to pornography. For her, social networks and other forms of virtual communication provide superficial relationships.

“It is important to emphasize, however, that the internet can also bring positive aspects in health and sexual education, such as the dissemination of contraceptive methods and the search for compatible partners”, says Romanato.