A recent study finds that the frequency — if not the importance — of sex has declined significantly in recent years. Are smartphones and higher quality entertainment driving us apart instead of bringing us together?
Americans are having less sex now than they were in the late 1990s and early 2000s, according to a recent study published in the prestigious Archives of Sexual Behavior.
This revelation seems all the more surprising given the omnipresence of sexual suggestion in almost every aspect of life in the early 21st century. Analyzing data covering more than 25,000 Americans, the study’s authors found that the average American adult is having sex nine fewer times a year than the average adult claimed in the late 1990s.
Although the frequency of sex seemed to decline among all groups and ages, the most precipitous drop was observed among married people or those who are unmarried but living with their partners. Among this demographic, the average frequency of sex declined by 16 times a year.
Data from General Social Survey
The study’s authors analyzed data collected as part of the General Social Survey, which has been monitoring societal change and sentiments since 1972. GSS is a project of NORC, founded at the University of Chicago in 1941 as the National Opinion Research Center but known simply as NORC today.
While the frequency of sex has dropped most sharply among married couples, people who’ve never been married had sex eight fewer times a year, according to the findings of the study. This group was more sexually active in the early 2000s than in the late 1990s, but the trend started turning downward in 2008.
Looking at the overall results of the study, the decreases in sexual frequency were fairly similar across educational level, gender, race, region, and work status. Declines were largest among Americans in their 50s, those with school-age children, and those who did not watch pornography.
Age Plays a Key Role
Unsurprisingly, age plays a role in sexual frequency, according to the study, which found that Americans in their 20s are having sex an average of 80 times a year, compared with those in their 60s who have sex an average of 20 times. However, a New York Times report on the study notes that people over 70 showed an increase in sexual frequency from 9.6 times a year in 1989 to 11 times a year in 2014.
The availability of medications, such as Viagra, to treat erectile dysfunction has undoubtedly helped more Americans to enjoy sex well into their golden years.
Study’s Authors
The study’s authors are Jean M. Twenge, an associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University; Ryne A. Sherman, associate professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University; and Brooke E. Wells, associate professor at Widener University’s Center for Human Sexuality Studies.
The journal in which their study was published is an official publication of the International Academy of Sex Research, which was founded in the early 1970s. The academy describes itself as “a scientific society whose objectives are the promotion of high standards of sexuality research by fostering interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, and by disseminating research through its annual meeting and publication of the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.”
5 Possible Factors Pinpointed
In an article posted at PsychologyToday.com, Twenge, the study’s lead author, looks at some factors that she suggests may have played a role in the decline in sexual frequency over the past decade.
1. The ubiquitous smartphone, says Twenge, seems to have had a cooling effect on sexual frequency between couples. “It’s tough to have a real conversation with your partner, much less make a move, when he or she is staring at their [sic] phone — or when it’s on the bedside table beeping away.” Rather than bringing us closer together, the phones seem to be driving people apart, she says.
2. The vast improvement in the quality — and availability — of entertainment available at home, including streaming movies, videos, and music, and more realistic video games, has taken couples’ focus off the bedroom.
3. The upsurge in dating apps “are not the boon to sex many have assumed,” writes Twenge. The use of apps as a prelude to easy sex is not really that appealing to the majority of men and women who, it seems, are more interested in lasting relationships than quick hookups.
4. Younger people today seem to have unrealistic expectations of the happiness likely to come from relationships and life in general. Twenge notes that previous generations focused more on the practical realities of marriage, resulting in greater happiness than that realized by younger generations.
5. An overall uneasiness among Americans, driven by political divisiveness, economic uncertainties, and a loss of confidence in public and private institutions, seems to have cooled the ardor and desire for sexual connection among many Americans, particularly younger generations.
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