Wait until Your 20s to have Sex for a Happy Romantic Future, Study Suggests
By Delords - Friday, October 19, 2012
Research, by the University of Texas, found those who abstain until at least 20 years old were more likely to have had a university education and work in a well-paid job.
They were also likely to have fewer sexual partners later in life but less likely to be married.
The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, observed and investigated 1,659 same-sex sibling pairs between the ages of 16 to 29.
The study used data from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health to class participants who lost their virginity at younger than 15 as "early", those who had sex between 15 and 19 as "on-time" and those older than 19 as "late".
Dr Harden said the association held up even after taking genetic and environmental factors into account and could not be explained by differences in adult educational attainment, income, or religiousness, or by adolescent differences in dating involvement, body mass index, or attractiveness.
She said the results suggest that the timing of sexual intercourse predicts the quality and stability of romantic relationships in young adulthood.
"It's also possible, however, that people who have their first sexual encounter later have different experiences, avoiding early encounters with relational aggression or victimization that would otherwise have detrimental effects on later romantic outcomes."
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