It is always risky business when we grab the results of one research study that seems to vindicate a particular viewpoint or cherished theory. Caution is particularly warranted when that study happens to support a religious or spiritual tenet. Science can be a treacherous ally to religion. What it gives with one hand, it tends to take away with the other.
Yet it does grab one's attention when you find a study that seems so clearly to vindicate a value one holds. I opened my new issue of Psychological Science when it arrived this morning, and as is my habit, I quickly scanned the research articles listed on the front cover. I sat up and took notice when I read this title: "True Love Waits? A Sibling-Comparison Study of Age at First Sexual Intercourse and Romantic Relationships in Young Adulthood." It turns out that in an analysis of a national sample of 1659 same-sex pairs (3300 plus participants is a pretty impressive sample!), Paige Harden of the University of Texas categorized the timing of the participants' first experience of sexual intercourse. Before age 15, it was labeled Early, from age 15 to 19 it was called On time, and Late, if first sexual intercourse came after age 19.
Now I may quibble with where the author placed the labels -- a 15 year old having sex seems mighty early to me. Yet the results that Harden found were quite instructive. The timing of sexual experience predicted the number of romantic partners the person had as an adult (the late ones had fewer adult partners). The late virgins married or cohabited at later ages, but when they did, they reported lower levels of romantic dissatisfaction. Of interest to me was that these effects remained robust even when you controlled for socioeconomic class, ethnicity, and genetic or family effects. The availability of sexual opportunity did not seem to explain timing, because both males and females who lost their virginity later were rated on a number of factors by interviewers as more, not less, attractive than those who lost their virginity earlier. And it's not explained by religion either. The late virgins were not necessarily more religious. The bottom line of all this is that early sexual activity provides no positive advantage whatsoever, where adult romantic relationships are concerned. And later sexual activity, per se, does seem to be a protective factor.
It's one study. But it is an impressive study. Large national sample, longitudinal design, adequate and appropriate controls, careful statistical analysis. Definitive? No, science is almost always tentative. But it inspires confidence in our time-worn values. Above and beyond spiritual considerations,waiting does have its benefits.
Citation: Harden, K. P. (2012). True Love Waits? A Sibling-Comparison Study of Age at First Sexual Intercourse and Romantic Relationships in Young Adulthood. Psychological Science, 23 (11), 1324-1336
