Teenagers have less sex in the US, study finds – 04/30/2023 – Health

A survey by the US CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in free translation) noted that, in 2021, the number of adolescents who have already lost their virginity or who were sexually active was the lowest ever recorded since 1991. study were collected during the Covid-19 pandemic, when social distancing measures were adopted to stop the disease.

The survey, called the YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Survey), is conducted every 2 years. The most recent version was applied in 2021 and had its data recently compiled in institution reports.

In this last edition, more than 17,000 questionnaires were applied to adolescents in 152 schools in different parts of the USA. The survey includes young people aged between 14 and 18 years.

In addition to containing questions about sex, the form had questions about demographics, mental health, relationships with parents, among others.

The fact that it was done during the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, the virus that causes Covid-19, makes it possible to compare it with what was seen in previous versions of the same study. One of these cases is in relation to sexual practice among younger people.

It was possible to observe that the number of teenagers who had already lost their virginity was the lowest since the first edition. In 1991, 54% responded that they had already had sex. In 2021, that number was 30%.

But the data is not at all surprising. “It’s a trend. Young people seem to be taking longer to have sex. This is a reality in the United States, and we’ve been seeing it in some countries in Europe and in the East as well”, says Jairo Bouer, psychiatrist and communicator.

Indeed, the CDC’s own research bears this out. Data collected years ago already showed a downward trend in adolescents with a sexual history, especially in 2015, when the percentage dropped and did not rise again in subsequent editions. However, the drop in the latest version of the study was the steepest of all. And perhaps the Covid pandemic explains this.

Bouer states that the health emergency must have increased dramatically what was already observed. “I think it’s a situation that was already happening, and with the pandemic it gets worse.”

The doctor says it is necessary to wait for new data to assess the effect of the health crisis on the practice of sex among young people, but he already has a bet: the numbers should rise, but still remain lower than what was seen a few years ago .

Less real sex, more virtual

And it’s not just that teens are taking longer to get laid: they’re also having less sex. Another question from the CDC asked whether respondents were sexually active: 21% answered yes in this edition of the study, while in 1991, it was 37%.

The drop is even greater when among those who have had at least four sexual partners: only 6% indicated that they reached that number in 2021. In 1991, the percentage was 19%.

Bouer indicates that there seems to be a trend that, in addition to taking longer to start having sex, even those who are no longer virgins have less sex. “Sexual activity as a whole, for many young people, is no longer as central to their daily lives as it was 30 years ago.”

But sex is still there, only very restricted to the virtual. For Bouer, one explanation for the drop in sexual activity is that young people are very attached to the digital universe, such as dating apps or social networks. But when it comes to real life, it doesn’t.

“It’s as if the high was much more in flirting, online, in the exchange of nudes, in virtual sex than in real sex”, he summarizes.

In Brazil

The perception that young people’s sex lives are slower still exists in Brazil, but not as well defined as in other countries. In a Datafolha survey carried out in July 2022, gender was listed as a much less important axis in the list of what matters to them. Health, family, study, work and religion are some of the factors that appear to be more relevant compared to the act of having sex.

Bouer explains that historically young Brazilians have sex more than Americans or Europeans. However, it is not exempt from the decline observed in these other regions. “Everything leads to believe that, if it is not a current trend, maybe it will happen in the coming years”, summarizes the psychiatrist about the case of Brazil.