HONOLULU (KHON2) — One of our tried-and-true approaches to younger generations has always been to believe that younger folks are more adventurous in all aspects of life than older generations were.
But a new study from the University of California, Los Angeles has found that this may not be true with Generation Z. They have found that 38% of those in Generation Z in our post-COVID world simply are not having sex or reaching other milestones.
Generation Z is constituted by those who were born between 1997 and 2012.
Although there have several studies — such as Monitoring the Future and YouGov — have suggested that Generation Z are engaging in less sexual activity compared to previous generations such as Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials.
Authors of the study believe that the delay and absence of sexual activity is indicative of Generation Z putting off other major life decisions such as owning a home or developing long-term romantic relationships.
One of the factors that is leading to lower sex drive amongst Generation Z is lower economic opportunities.
Unlike Baby Boomers in the 1960s, Generation Z doesn’t have unlimited access to opportunity. With less investment from the upper eschalots of business in the United States, the ability to independently engage in economic advancement has dwindled over the previous 40 years.
Now, according to the UCLA study, Generation Z is being impacted the most by deeply conservative approaches to economic development and opportunity; and it’s manifesting in their inability to participate in the “American Dream”.
Without financial stability, Generation Z is showing that they are creating their own approach to stability that doesn’t involve the controls to which previous generations were subject.
The study also shows that Generation Z are drinking less alcohol. Basically, everything is coming later for the generation.
According to the study, past generation’s initial sexual encounters were typically experienced around the age of 16 for Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials. But Generation Z is waiting to have sex. They are also showing that 52% indicating that are economically living below the poverty line, even though they maintain more than one full-time job.