At What Age are People in the United States Having Sex for the First Time?

Nowadays, what do you think is the age at which the average American first has sexual intercourse?

Pat yourself on the back if you said about 17 years of age.

Most Americans underestimate the age in which others are having sexual intercourse for the first time. This tells us something about where most Americans are getting their information about sex — the mass media, social media, and friends — all of which depend upon sensationalism to either sell commercials and ads; or obtain likes and subscribers.

Think about it, in today’s, virtual-misinformation age, people’s norms about sexuality are less-likely rooted in their own experiences or reality, and more likely rooted in the stories and feeds they are clicking on.

For example, which story are people most likely to click on, and thereby implicitly believe as being the norm: A story about an 11-year-old having sex for the first time or a story about a 20-year-old having sex for the first time?

The fact is, today, Americans are putting off sexual intercourse (17 and 16 years of age, respectively, for females and males having sex for the first time), marriage (28 and 31 years of age, respectively, for first-time females and males getting married), and children (26 and 31 years of age, respectively, for first-time females and males becoming parents), longer than any other time in recorded history.

References

Fuxman, S., De Los Santos, S., Finkelstein, D., Landon, M. K., & O’Donnell, L. (2015). Sources information on sex and antecedents of early sexual initiation among urban Latino youth. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 10, 333–350.

Guttmacher Institute. (2014). American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health, https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/pubs/FB-ATSRH.pdf

Lucas, D. R., Roberts, C., Nylander, G., & Higdon, M. (2016). Do Americans know more about sex today than they did 25 years ago? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Dallas, Texas.

Stahl, A. (2020). New Study: Millennial Women Are Delaying Having Children Due to Their Careers, Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2020/05/01/new-study-millennial-women-are-delaying-having-children-due-to-their-careers/

U.S. Census Bureau, Decennial Censuses, 1890 to 1940, and Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplements, 1947 to 2020.

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Dr. Don Lucas, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology and head of the Psychology Department at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio Texas. He loves psychology, teaching, and research.

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