Americans Have Less Sex Than They Used To, Study Finds

With so much technology to entertain us — Netflix, smartphones, social media and the burgeoning world of virtual reality — Americans are headed for a future of having less and less sex. That is, as long as current trends continue.

A new study from San Diego State University found that Americans had sex about nine fewer times per year between 2010 and 2014 when compared to 1995 to 1999.

Couples who are married or living together experienced an even more significant drop. Between 2010 and 2014, these pairs had sex 16 fewer times per year compared to 2000 and 2014, according to the research.

The study, lead by Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at the university, examined data from the General Social Survey which polled a nationally representative sample of 26,000 Americans starting in 1989. It asks questions about participants' sexual behavior, including their frequency.

"These data show a major reversal from previous decades in terms of marriage and sex," said Twenge. "In the 1990s, married people had sex more times per year than never-married people, but by the mid-2000s that reversed, with the never-married having more sex."

The decline appears to be driven by generational differences. Sexual behavior varies by age, as younger people are more likely to frequently have sex than older people. People in their 20s, for instance, have sex on average around 80 times a year, the researchers said, which falls to around 20 times per year at age 65.

But now, the younger generations are having less sex than older cohorts had when they were younger.

"Despite their reputation for hooking up, Millennials and the generation after them (known as iGen or Generation Z) are actually having sex less often than their parents and grandparents did when they were young," Twenge said. "That's partially because fewer iGen'ers and Millennials have steady partners."

But the phenomenon is not just limited to the younger cohorts.

"Older and married people are having sex less often — especially after 2000," Twenge said. "In a previous paper, we found that the happiness of adults older than age 30 declined between 2000 and 2014. With less sex and less happiness, it's no wonder that American adults seem deeply dissatisfied these days."

One explanation for this change may be that Americans have so many options for entertainment these days, as the New York Times notes.

The authors rule out longer working hours and pornography as reasons people are having less sex. In fact, they found that people who work long hours are likely to have more sex, not less, than other Americans.

Photo credit: Ibrahim Asad