The latest statistics from the CDC seem to indicate that teens and young adults are becoming less sexually active. The study, released Thursday, is based on interviews of about 5,300 young people, ages 15 to 24, between 2006 and 2008. It shows the proportion in that age group who reported that they had never had oral, anal or vaginal sex rose over the past decade from 22 percent to about 28 percent. Older data show that vaginal intercourse among unmarried teens and young adults has slowly been declining since 1988.
Some believe that the small but significant decrease in sexual activity may be attributed to increased sex education efforts, including abstinence-only programs. ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross, however, remains skeptical. “As the article states, abstinence-only programs were not popular in the 1980s, so that certainly isn’t the most likely explanation. There’s no way to tell from this survey why young people seem to be not having as much sex.”
Teens and young adults losing interest in sex?
The latest statistics from the CDC seem to indicate that teens and young adults are becoming less sexually active. The study, released Thursday, is based on interviews of about 5,300 young people, ages 15 to 24, between 2006 and 2008. It shows the proportion in that age group who reported that they had never had oral, anal or vaginal sex rose over the past decade from 22 percent to about 28 percent.
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