US study finds that delinquent students claim to begin sex lives earlier

February 28, 2007

An extensive study of adolescents conducted in U.S. revealed that claiming an early beginning of sex life is statistically correlated to delinquent behavior later. An examination of more than 7,000 teenagers revealed that those who had their first sexual experience earlier than their peers showed a 20 percent increase in delinquent conduct a year after.

Stacy Armour, a research student from Ohio State University, who took part in the study found a correlation between teens beginning their sex life later than their peers and their subsequent rate of delinquency. The research showed that adolescents who were late to begin sex life as compared to the average age of teens in their school, were 50 percent more unlikely to act delinquently.

The average age when adolescents begin their sex life would be between 11.25 and 17.5 years, according to the research that is found in Journal of Youth and Adolescence. The information concerning the average age of teenagers who just had their first intercourse was revealed for each of the schools that took part in the study. Every respondent had his data compared with the data of other peers within one school.

The overall data of the study revealed that a 58 percent increase in delinquent behavior was pronounced among those teenagers who stopped claiming to be virgins between first and second study. The research itself doesn't suggest that sex is interrelated with delinquency but it raises the problem that those teenagers who are more impatient to start sexual life are likely to show asocial behavior later.