Are Teens Really Having Less Sex —Or Do They Just Define It Differently?

SAN FRANCISCO — Situationships. “Sneaky links.” The “talking stage,” the flirtatious getting-to-know-you phase—typically done via text—that can lead to a hookup. High school students are having less sexual intercourse. That’s what the studies say. But that doesn’t mean they’re having less sex. The language of young love and lust, and the actions behind it, are evolving. And the shift is not being adequately captured in national studies, experts say. For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago, when more than half of teens reported having sex. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Associated Press took the findings to teenagers and experts around the country to ask for their interpretation. Parents: Some of the answers may surprise you. The meaning of sex: Depends who you ask For starters, what is the definition of sex? “Hmm. That’s a good question,” says Rose, 17, a junior at a New England high school. She thought about it for 20 seconds, then listed a range of possibilities for heterosexual sex, oral sex and relations between same-sex or LGBTQ partners....
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Research Source Type: news