Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion

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This finding looks at the relationship between delayed sexual activity and subsequent marital stability.

Girls who began sexual activity in their teens have greater difficulty in forming and sustaining stable marriages. Two-thirds of women surveyed who began sexual activity at ages 21-22 were in stable marriages (i.e. had been in the same marriage for more than five years at the time of the survey). By contrast only 27.7 percent of girls who began sexual activity at age 13-14 were in stable marriages.

Sample or Data Description
10,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44 who participated in the National Survey of Family Growth sponsored by the Center for Disease Control of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1995).

Source
"The Harmful Effects of Early Sexual Activity and Multiple Sexual Partners Among Women: A Book of Charts"
Rector, Robert E.
Johnson, Kirk A., Noyes, Lauren R.; and Martin, Shannan
Heritage Foundation Working Paper Vol. 1, Number . June, 2003. Page(s) 10.

FindingID: 4908