When do people lose their virginity?

General Questions
#1

So, I was sitting in the back of Latin class today, talking with class mates about sex. The conversation varied a lot, but when it came right down to it, there were quite a few ranges of when people lost thier virginity. We of course had the girl who lost her virginity in 7th grade and a senior who is still a virgin.

This made me qustion, just what is the average age that people lose their virginity. To narrow the population, let us talk about normal Americans representing a wide range of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

What does the distribution look like? Skewed right or left? How much variation is there in age?

I tried Google a few times, but I could only find a few sites, most of which had definite biases, such as one fundy site claiming that the average age was around 19, a little high if you ask me.

#2

Well, personally I was 18, as were many of my friends back in my day… but these days I feel the average age is much lower (UNfortunately)! It’s scary to think that kids are losing their virginity before they can vote!!!

#3

Count me in with the 18 year olds (I didn’t lose it. I know exactly where I left it!) But my best friend gave hers up at 15.

#4

I lost mine at 42- that’s the answer the mice were looking for.

#5

Are you looking for a specific average or when(as applicable) those of us in here lost it. I was older than average I guess at the ancient age of 20. I’m a guy so it wasn’t by choice that I waited that long.
deadman

#6

I was 22. I could have lost it at 19, but I turned the girl down because she was drunk. I then proceeded to kick myself for 3 years.

#7

I think I was 18, possibly 17. Pretty sure it was 18. Anyhow, of all my girlfriends, I would say they all probably averaged losing their virginity at about 18. The earliest was 16, the latest was 20, the rest about 18. Eighteen as a natinal average does sound a little high, though I would guess the national average is probably closer to 17.

#8

I was 16. This is also roughly the average out of the people I know that have told me (we’re all British). I think kids these days are losing it younger, though. Earliest out of anyone I know was 13 (scary!), latest 21 or 22, I think.

#9

Fourteen.

#10

14 also.

#11

Well I’d recommend that we keep responses limited to statistical data on when people lose virginity rather than having everyone chime in with their age when they popped.

It’s what the OP asked for and besides, polls are IMHO material.

#12

Here’s some stats for ya (won’t comment on the sources)

National Abstinence folk

and
Public Policy paper

#13

Badtz Maru, why would you kick yourself for having done the decent thing? You evidently thought it was the booze talking, not her - and didn’t take advantage of it. Good for you!

No means no; drunken yes doesn’t always mean yes.

#14

Hmm… I seem to remember reading at one point in time that the average American girl was 16 with the guy being 17. This makes at least some sence because most girls go out with older guys. This also seems to jive with the women I know saying it was around 16 or so. sorry no site though as this was years ago.

#15

“I turned the girl down because she was drunk.”

FYI, having sex with a woman when she is drunk is illegal in many states.

Back to the OP, do you want the average age, which is meaningness or the mean age?

#16

i thought average and mean are the same. both are the sum of all values divided by number of values, no? perhaps you mean median, where 50% of a sample lies on either side. Or am i misunderstanding you?

#17

Unfortunately, I still have not been able to find any real, solid statistics that are descriptive enough. For instance, 15and 0 months is very different from 15 and 11 months. Anyway, thanks for the responses so far, my personal guess right now would be that the average age is around 16 to 17 for females and males respectively. Again, any more statistics would be welcome.

#18

According to my developmental psych professor, the average age of first intercourse in the United States is around thirteen, but that number seems a bit low. I’d guess fifteen or sixteen.

#19

Check this out, http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60735

#20

Men’s Body is an old book that usually has statistics like this.

Playboy once did an article about that falling age of first sex & they concluded we would be having sex in infancy around 2012 I think.