Sexual Intercourse, First Experience Of

Age of First Sexual Intercourse

Most of the research focuses on the age when individuals first engage in vaginal-penile penetration. The average age of first intercourse is between 15 to 18 years old. Robert Michael and his colleagues report that more than 80 percent of 20 year olds in the United States have engaged in intercourse, and they argue that teenage sexual experiences tend to be episodic and less frequent compared to adult sexuality.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, the average age of first sexual intercourse declined, and although the decline in age is well documented, there is less consensus regarding why this is so. Explanations often include historical changes (such as the 1960s sexual revolution), an increase in the age of first marriage, and less parental supervision (due to an increase in parental divorce and to both parents working outside of the home) particularly in the afterschool hours. Scholars such as Barbara Risman and Pepper Schwartz have found that at the beginning of the 21st century, teens are slightly more sexually conservative and particularly for boys, may be delaying their first sexual intercourse.

Race, ethnicity, social class, and gender are some of the more powerful factors that consistently differentiate early from later debuts of sexual intercourse. Studies consistently find that African Americans compared to Whites or Latinos and that persons from lower social classes compared to those from higher income brackets are more likely to engage in sexual intercourse at a younger age. Regarding gender, males tend to report a younger age of first sexual intercourse than females; however, in the last decade, the gender gap is closing with boys' decreasing sexual activity.

Context of First Sexual Intercourse

The context of the first sexual intercourse typically occurs within a dating relationship and is described as a spontaneous event. Sexual debut, for men and for especially women, tends not to be a very satisfying emotional or physical experience. Both men and women report experiencing anxiety at the first sexual event. Compared to men, women tend to be much less likely to report having an orgasm, more likely to report feeling guilty (especially if a dating relationship is not established), and more likely to say retrospectively that they wish they had waited. Females experience less pleasant reactions to first coitus than do males; for example, they are more likely to be nervous, in pain, worried about pregnancy, and worried about possible negative outcomes of having intercourse. Women who were in late adolescence or young adulthood when they lost their virginity reported less negative reactions compared to those who were younger. The age of the [Page 1465]first sexual partner also impacts women's reactions, as sex with someone younger or the same age is often reported as more pleasurable than first-ever sex with an older partner. As for why people engage in first intercourse when they do, women are more likely to report they engaged in first sex to strengthen a relationship, while men are more likely to cite physical pleasure as the reason for engaging in first sex.

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