USA Today (12.20.06) - Thursday, December 21, 2006
Sharon Jayson

For those who were age 15 between 1954 and 1963, the median age of first premarital sex was 20.4 years. The median age was lower younger for those who were 15 between 1964 and 1973 - 18.6 years. It dipped again to 18 years old for those who turned 15 between 1974 and 1983, and again, to 17.3 years, for those who turned 15 between 1984 and 1993. It then rose to 17.6 years for those who turned 15 between 1994 and 2003.

The data, derived from the 1982, 1988, 1995, and 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, surveyed about 40,000 respondents ages 15-44. The margin of error is less than 1 percent, said Lawrence Finer, AGI domestic research director and the report's author.

According to 2005 data, the median age at first marriage was just over 25 for women and 27 for men. Among women born in the 1940s, nearly nine in 10 had premarital sex.

This fall, a Department of Health and Human Services official overseeing abstinence funds said they could indeed be used not just for pre-teens and teens, but for adults up to age 29. Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at HHS, said the revision ensures states know abstinence programs can also target 19- to 29-year-olds.

"Is it really feasible to make it normative to have everyone wait until they're married to have sex?" asked Finer.

The full report, "Trends in Premarital Sex in the United States, 1954-2003," was published in Public Health Reports (2007;122(1):73-78).
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