[News24] The teenage years are a time for experimenting and for pushing boundaries ‐ particularly when it comes to intimate relationships. Such experimentation is a natural part of growing up. But there are potential risks, too ‐ particularly if these early experiences aren’t positive ones. That’s why my colleagues and I investigated what kinds of intimate behaviour 14 year olds engage in, and how this insight can help to ensure young people are well prepared for healthy and happy adult relationships.
We know teenagers experiment with intimacy, often moving "up" the scale from hand-holding or kissing to more explicitly sexual activity. But we also know teenage pregnancy numbers have been dropping in recent years. And our new findings suggest that fewer young teenagers are actually having sexual intercourse than previously thought.
Studies have shown that 30% of those born in the 1980s and 1990s had sex before the age of 16. Among those born in the early 1990s, 18% had done so by age 15. But our new evidence, based on those aged 14, born during or just after the year 2000, indicates that there has been a decrease in the most intimate types of sexual behaviours among this latest cohort ‐ Generation Z.
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