Millennials are known for creating “friends with benefits” and because of this many would assume that they are more promiscuous then previous generations. Shockingly the General Social Survey, a project based at the University of Chicago, discovered that these young adults are less promiscuous than their parents. They studied three generations Baby Boomers (1946 – 1960), Generation X (1961-1981), and Millennials (1982-1995/1997). Surprisingly, these social scientists discovered that the average number of sexual partners for a baby boomer born in the 1950s was 11.68, while for millennials it was only 8.26.
While the amount of sexual partners someone has have decreased, the acceptance of “promiscuous” sexual behavior since the 1970s has continued to incline. In the 1970s only 29% of Americans believed that having a sexual relationship with someone before marriage was “not wrong at all.” This number has almost doubled, reaching 55% for the current decade. Researchers also believe that the acceptance of premarital sex rose as people waited longer to get married.
Regarding today’s teens, little research has been done comparing their sexual relationships to that of previous generations. However, through the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, teenagers are interviewed and surveyed by the federal government every other year. This survey gathers data regarding different activities that would be considered “bad” such as drug use. A majority of the survey questions show that today’s teenagers smoke less, drink less, and have sex less than previous generations. These statistics may come as a shock to many, considering most people assume teens and millennials are more rebellious and promiscuous than any other generation.
In conclusion, younger generations are less likely to have multiple sexual relationships, but are more likely to get married later in life and tend to be more open to relationships before marriage.
Photo by Generationbass.com 
This post was very interesting to me, I had always assumed that our generation was indeed more promiscuous than my parents’. I guess that my parents just leave out all the bad things they did when recounting their childhoods. I wonder what the reason for the discrepancy between the generations is.