Less sex for young Americans now than in 2000: report

Young Americans are having less sex now than 20 years ago. (Shutterstock.com)

Skip the foreplay — and the intercourse, too.

A new study reveals young Americans are hitting the sheets now at a significantly lower rate than just two decades ago.

Sexual activity in 2018 was about 12% less than in 2000, noted researchers at San Diego State University.

Psychologists crunched the sexual numbers — including number of sexual partners and frequency of sex — of about 4,300 men and 5.300 women.

Men who were jobless, working part-time or had low incomes were more likely to be sexually inactive, noted researchers. The percentage of sexually inactive 18-to-24-year-old men increased from 19% circa 2001 to a whopping 31% between 2016 and 2018.

Two possible reasons for the decrease in sex are increased use of digital media and proliferation of the Internet.

But it’s not just guys getting busy less, females between the ages of 25 and 34 also are less sexually active, according to the study published Friday in the Journal of the American Medicine Association.

“First, adolescents and young people are taking longer to grow to adulthood. This includes the postponement of not just sexual inactivity but also other activities related to mating and reproduction, including dating, living with a partner, pregnancy and birth,” noted report author Jean Twenge. “It is more difficult to date and engage ins sexual activity when not economically independent of one’s parents.”

Although Internet sites and social media would seemingly facilitate the search for sexual partners, using mobile technology could potentially hamper the contentment received from in-person interaction, noted the report.

And it’s not just an American thing. Even the Brits are engaging in less hanky-panky. In a different study, U.K. couples are having less sex now than in the prior two decades, according to a 2019 report from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Numerous health benefits have been linked to regular sex, including better sleep, reduced stress and improved heart health, according to CNN.