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Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

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Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#141

Post by hntrader »

Armisael16 wrote: post #138
hntrader wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living with your parents and facing economic difficulty are going to be correlated. If they're included together in a multivariable regression (which is often what people mean when they say "controlling for") then they're going to have multicollinearity and it's not possible to disambiguate the unique role of one versus the other. It's plausible that the former variable is "stealing" some of the statistical significa…

Is that a statistical blunder? If economic circumstances provide no additional explanatory power beyond coresidence...

Not really, it's normal.

If you have two independent variables that are highly correlated, and you include both into the model, it's going to be pretty arbitrary which one ends up with statistical significance.

If we're dealing with weak effects and small data, there's very little one can do. That's why epidemiological studies like this kinda suck.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#142

Post by nickthemagicman »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #108
throwaway8581 wrote: post #26

Many comments are ignoring the most important aspect. The decline is almost all among men not women: > Using a slightly different age range and time frame, Ueda et al. (2020) found that the percentage of sexually inactive men ages 18 to 24 increased from 18.9 percent in 2000–2002 to 30.9 percent in 2016–2018, and the percentage of sexually inactive young women increased from 15.1 percent to 19.1 percent over the same…

I hear this explanation often, but it ignores the fact that only a small fraction of population uses Tinder. I don't know the real reason, but if I was to guess, the most obvious one is that there are so many interesting things to do, learn, engage in, that making considerable effort in order to have sex simply doesn't seem worth it, that's all.

There's tons of dating apps besides Tinder.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#143

Post by whaaswijk »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #132
whaaswijk wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a historian but aren’t those tightly controlled cultural practices a relatively modern invention? Certainly the ancients were known to have orgies (presumably for fun). People have observed how the 20th century was for many people a return to their “true” nature (eg free love, drugs, rave parties). Maybe it’s just always been true that, when their wealth/resources allow for it, people like to have sex for fun…

The ancients had orgies as a part of religious mystery cults. Those weren’t widespread to the level that Tinder is today. The birth control pill also enabled many of these attitudes, so it almost by definition wasn’t a return to their “true nature.” But yes of course people like having sex. What’s new is that this pleasure-focused view of it has become the dominant one, to the exclusion of all others.

I was pushing back to your assertion that viewing sex as entertainment is primarily a modern and western viewpoint. Certainly the west’s view of sex has changed in the past 100 years. However I would not be surprised if the current view is actually more in line with historical attitudes toward sex, not less.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#144

Post by tarboreus »

Lammy wrote: post #131
ceilingcorner wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was more or less the purpose of monogamy. If you observe many societies that don’t strongly enforce it, you see that wealthy men end up having tons of wives, while poor men have none. Same situation is happening in America, we just don’t call it polygamy because it has been reduced entirely to the physical act.

Sounds like we should eliminate the need for and concept of wealth, then, so people can congregate based on shared interest instead of having to factor in the possibility of monetary support from their partner(s).

Good luck! I'll check back in with your utopia in a hundred years.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#145

Post by DrJones1098 »

quacked wrote: post #100
cashewchoo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I'm deeply thankful for is that I was engaged coming out of college to the woman of my dreams, and that Tinder didn't really fully catch on until I was already seriously dating my now-wife. The modern dating market sounds like one of the most depressing aspects of modern adult society.

It is an absolute nightmare and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Modern "dating" is frightening, dehumanizing, demoralizing, ahistorical, amoral, and devoid of meaning.

It's literally Capitalism hidden under the guise of dating.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#147

Post by quacked »

akamaka wrote: post #135
quacked wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just mentioned two of the most powerful and charismatic men in history. Can you elaborate on the comparison?

They’re both very similar in good looks and success, but one is known as a faithful husband, and the other is a prolific womanizer. We could perhaps simplify the hypothesis to say that modern dating, enabled by apps, has made it easier for men who have a high desire to sleep with many women to do so.

Ah, I understand. That's an interesting point you make. I am inclined to agree with you. It would have a similar reality-distorting effect; Carter influenced one women, Clinton influenced many.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#148

Post by krallistic »

"Among young men [...] and 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."

Isnt the increase in coreside with parents due to economic circumstances...?

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#149

Post by david38 »

Lammy wrote: post #131
ceilingcorner wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was more or less the purpose of monogamy. If you observe many societies that don’t strongly enforce it, you see that wealthy men end up having tons of wives, while poor men have none. Same situation is happening in America, we just don’t call it polygamy because it has been reduced entirely to the physical act.

Sounds like we should eliminate the need for and concept of wealth, then, so people can congregate based on shared interest instead of having to factor in the possibility of monetary support from their partner(s).

You propose to eliminate the concept of status? Impossible. Even monkeys have it.

Re: Why are fewer young adults having casual sex?

#150

Post by quacked »

mywittyname wrote: post #140
quacked wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just mentioned two of the most powerful and charismatic men in history. Can you elaborate on the comparison?

Carter is a very pious individual whose actions always seem to be consistent with that belief system. Clinton is a well-know womanizer whose exploits were known long before his presidency. They are both powerful, and influential. But one seemed to put a whole lot more effort into getting laid, to the point of destroying his career.

I see. I was misinterpreting the parent comment. The general point here is that Carter could have been Clinton had he desired to, but he did not.
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