Young American men have less sex than ever before

'There are a lot more things to do at 10 o’clock at night now than there were 20 years ago'

Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson in ‘Sex Education’ (Sam Taylor/Netflix)

The number of American adults who have had not sex in the past year has reached an all-time high, a new report claims, and the figures indicate that most of them are men.

Analysis of the biannual General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by The Washington Post found that 23 per cent of adults said they had not sex in the past year and “a much larger than expected” number of them were men.

The findings show that the percentage of men under 30 who said they had not had sex in the last year had tripled since 2008 to 28 per cent. This was significantly higher than the eight per cent increase reported by women in the same age group.

Dating psychologist Madeleine Mason Roantree thinks the gender disparity might be down to young men watching more porn than young women.

For example, a recent survey conducted by BBC Three found that 77 per cent of men between the ages of 18 and 25 had watched pornographic content in the last month compared to just 47 per cent of women in the same age group.

"I definitely think young men are having less sex because of porn," Roantree tells The Independent. "It’s never been easier to access and consume."

Psychologist Jean Twenge thinks the increase could be down to the number of young men living at home, who are more likely to do so than young women, according to data from Pew Research Centre.

“When you’re living at home it’s probably harder to bring sexual partners into your bedroom,” Twenge told The Washington Post.

The survey also found that more than half of Americans (51 per cent) between the ages of 18 and 34 don’t have a steady romantic partner, a figure which has risen significantly from 33 per cent in 2004.

While not being in a relationship could be a contributing factor to sexlessness, Twenge, who wrote iGen – a book that outlines how technology is influencing the minds of young people – also thinks increased screentime may have something to do with it.

“There are a lot more things to do at 10 o’clock at night now than there were 20 years ago,” she added. “Streaming video, social media, console games, everything else.”

Since 1972, the GSS, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, has regularly gathered data on contemporary American society examining everything from marijuana use to sexual behaviour.

The majority of the data is obtained through face-to-face interviews.