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Teens Who Have Sex Are More Likely To Divorce Down The Road

A new study out of the University of Iowa has found that women who lose their virginity as young teens and women who lose their virginity as teens before they choose to are significantly more likely to divorce later in life. However, teens who waited to have sexual intercourse with a partner they chose in their later teen years did not have a significantly increased chance of divorce.

The study on teen sex and divorce examined roughly 3,800 women. Of those who lost their virginity as teens, 31 percent had a later marriage that ended within 5 years and 47 percent divorced their spouse within 10 years. Of those who waited until later in life to become sexually active, only 15 percent were divorced at the five-year mark, and 27 percent were divorced after a decade.

The researchers were sure to point out that the teen divorce study results were more complicated than they appear at first. Divorce rates depended heavily on what the woman’s first sexual experience was like: whether it was forced and whether it took place in the female’s early teens or late teens. In addition, other teen issues, such as teen pregnancy, teen motherhood, and large numbers of sexual partners also affected the numbers.

What can we learn from this study? Researchers say that rather than taking away the lesson that teens should never have sex, it is perhaps better to focus on the fact that those who wait until at least their late teen years and truly think before engaging in sexual activity will have a better chance at having healthy adult relationships.

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