Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

journals.sagepub.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 265 posts

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#51

Post by [deleted] »

stonecraftwolf wrote: post #40
newsclues wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dating apps suggest that a small group are having more sex and a larger group less sex. It’s the distribution of sex, not the amount. Technology has enabled the upper echelons of desirable men to sleep with many desirable women, and those down the pecking order are content with porn/toys, instead of settling for anyone other than the prized upper echelon. It’s not just the technology but the social change that result…

It’s extremely telling that you don’t bother to consider this from a woman’s POV, as though sex is some sort of fungible good to be distributed amongst men rather than something that results from two or more people expressing their agency. This is a deeply toxic set of assumptions that has its roots in the deeply misogynistic Incel culture.

[deleted]

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#53

Post by ovi256 »

nlbrown wrote: post #6
blakesterz wrote: post #2

The answers, from the abstract seem to be "young people" are living at home more, drinking less and gaming more than they used to. "Among young women, the decline in the frequency of drinking alcohol explains about one quarter of the drop in the propensity to have casual sex. Among young men, declines in drinking frequency, an increase in computer gaming, and the growing percentage who coreside with their parents all…

I'm quite surprised to see that the leading theories in many of these studies revolve around competing forms of entertainment. I'm personally more concerned with how economic difficulty, mental health, and hormonal imbalances could be causing these sort of changes in society.

This study does not address hormonal changes, but I'd like to see the secular testosterone decline studied. Testosterone directly mediates sexual desire, so that should play a role.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#54

Post by liquidify »

>>>"the growing percentage who coreside with their parents all contribute significantly to the decline in casual sex. The authors find no evidence that trends in young adults’ economic circumstances, ... explain the recent decline in casual sexual activity."

Is the author suggesting that increased co-residence is not related to economic circumstances?

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#55

Post by marton78 »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #33
orange_tee wrote: post #25

The idea that casual sex serves as some sort of formative process sounds ridiculous. In my mind, sex serves an important role in pair bonding, and casual sex would then inhibit the ability of people to pair bond.

This is old wisdom, perpetually forgotten, recently remembered anew.

Therefore, not perpetually forgotten.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#56

Post by klmadfejno »

> Between 2007 and 2017, more young women became employed, but there was no significant change in their mean earnings, and their total debt load actually declined significantly. Young men’s employment, earnings, and debt did not change significantly between 2007 and 2017. Both women and men became significantly more likely to live with their parents.

This sounds odd. More women are employed but mean earnings didn't change? Debt of young people has declined in the past decade? Despite this they're more likely to live with their parents? I'm in the camp of expecting financial independence being the strongest factor in this trend personally.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#57

Post by hwbehrens »

nlbrown wrote: post #6
blakesterz wrote: post #2

The answers, from the abstract seem to be "young people" are living at home more, drinking less and gaming more than they used to. "Among young women, the decline in the frequency of drinking alcohol explains about one quarter of the drop in the propensity to have casual sex. Among young men, declines in drinking frequency, an increase in computer gaming, and the growing percentage who coreside with their parents all…

I'm quite surprised to see that the leading theories in many of these studies revolve around competing forms of entertainment. I'm personally more concerned with how economic difficulty, mental health, and hormonal imbalances could be causing these sort of changes in society.

One of the cited works [0] did look at the relationship between mental health and sexual activity, if you're interested.

They found that higher sexual activity correlated with greater levels of depression, especially in men. Sexually active women also correlated with decreases in mental health, but the authors' interpretation was that that decline primarily stems from higher rates of victimization among that population, which would obviously lead to negative mental outcomes.

[0]: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10508-019-014...

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#58

Post by [deleted] »

wittyreference wrote: post #23
estsauver wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study did examine economic difficulty. "The authors find no evidence that trends in young adults’ economic circumstances, internet use, or television watching explain the recent decline in casual sexual activity."

If they find no relationship between changing economic circumstances and the outcome, and but a positive relationship between likelihood of co-residence with parents and the outcome, the likelihood that they have made statistical blunders greatly outweighs the likelihood that changing economic circumstances do not play a role.

[deleted]

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#59

Post by tluyben2 »

backtoyoujim wrote: post #8
marcodiego wrote: post #3

Entertainment and porn these days are more accessible and higher quality than they ever were.

Great. Now all I can think about is the Matrix human pods playing the pornhub theme as they close.

That seems quite likely for a Matrix like world though? If it gets better and better quality/experience with the end results holodecks/cortex plugs/etc and I can, without worrying about disease or money or dying or pregnancy in the virtual world, have 1000s of computer generated perfect mates doing whatever, would the vast majority of people still go outside or do anything meaningful at all? With gaming and porn and 'social' media we are already seeing some of that, but if it gets better, why would people do anything else?

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#60

Post by the_af »

wittyreference wrote: post #31
jawns wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study talks about how more young people are residing with their parents because of economic difficulty, but I'm not sure that's necessarily a major factor in the decline. Many people become sexually active before they move out of their parents' houses, and although it might be more challenging to find a private space, where there's a will, there's a way. Teenagers have been sneaking around to fool around for gene…

The real earning power of minimum wage (aka, the standard teenage job) has declined by, what, 70% since the 70s? If it's more expensive, in real terms, to have a car, to rent a hotel room, to go out, then yes, it's going to be more difficult to get laid.

You can have sex while living with your parents, no car or hotel rooms needed. Not having money to go out might be a problem to meet people, true.

Note that in many countries, teenagers owning cars (and related activities) are not as prevalent as in the US. When I was a teenager, almost nobody I knew owned a car, and we all used public transportation, so there was no (dating) car culture around this.

Post reply on HN