New study finds an increase in sexlessness among young American adults
According to the National Survey of Family Growth, Americans aren’t having as much sex as they once were. In fact, the rate of sexlessness in the country has been steadily increasing for some time.
Every year, the NSFG gathers data on reproductive health, contraception use, pregnancy, infertility, family life, marriage, cohabitation, and sexual behavior from men and women ages 15 to 49. This year, face-to-face interviews were conducted and a new online survey was made available for all participants.
Based on the survey’s findings, sexlessness has noticeably risen between the last survey wave (2017 to 2019) and the most recent wave (2022 to 2023).
In the time between 2012 and 2014, men seemed to be having more sex than women. However, sexlessness in all adults ages 22 to 34 rose across the board between 2013 to 2023 as more men and women said they’d had “no sex ever,” “no sex in the last three months,” and “no sex in the last year.”
From the 2013 to 2015 wave to the 2022 to 2023 wave, sexlessness increased by 15 percent for males and 5 percent for females, the survey found.
What’s more, the amount of male and female respondents in the 22 to 34 age group identifying as virgins also increased between those two waves. Ten percent of young males and 7 percent of females reported being a virgin in 2022 to 2023.
“In sum, for young adult males, sexlessness has roughly doubled across all measures over the last 10 years or so. For young adult females, it has risen by roughly 50 percent,” stated the Institute of Family Studies.
One explanation for the rise of sexlessness is the decline of monogamy and marriage. In other words, because married people are more likely to have sex regularly and fewer young people are getting married, little to no sex is now being had.
The survey found a decrease in heterosexual males with fewer than two female partners, but there was no change in the number of males with “large numbers of female sexual partners.”
A 2024 Pew Research Study surveying men and women between the ages of 18 and 34 found that 69 percent of those “who have never been married say they want to get married one day,” while “about a quarter (23 percent) say they’re not sure,” and 8 percent say they don’t want to get married.
Meanwhile, 45 percent of women without children said they had no interest in having kids in the future, and 57 percent of males said they were interested in becoming fathers.
