Teen love pill: Difference between revisions

'''Just start early''' or '''teen love pill''' is a theory that missing out on dating, relationships and sex during as teens makes it more difficult to [[ascension|ascend]] later on. Sexual inexperience can become a turnoff or even a red flag. Moreover, virgins who wait until marriage also will struggle to find someone else who is willing to wait until marriage as almost everyone has premarital sex.

== Missing out on teenage love hinders success later on ==

In a pivotal study about involuntary celibacy from 2001 called "Involuntary Celibacy: A Life Course Analysis", researchers talked to three involuntarily celibate groups of people: 1) involuntary virgins (those who never had sex and still are sexually inexperienced), 2) singles (those who had sexual experience in the past but no longer are able to, and a good amount of these people resorted to hookers or even sexual surrogates), 3) partnered celibates (those who are married or in a relationship but their partner won't have sex). 91% of the virgins said they never dated as teenagers, compared to 52% of singles. Here is an important quote:

{{Quote|In summary, while most of our sample had discussed sex with friends and experimented with masturbation as teens, most of the virgins and singles did not date. Singles were similar to partnered persons in terms of first sexual experiences, while the majority of virgins reported first sexual experiences that did not include another person. As the data illustrates, virgins and singles may have missed important transitions, and as they got older, their trajectories began to differ from those of their age peers. As Thorton (1990) noted, patterns of sexuality in young adulthood are significantly related to dating, steady dating, and sexual experience in adolescence. It is rare for a teenager to initiate sexual activity outside of a dating relationship. Thus, persons reaching young adulthood without dating may have missed an important opportunity for sexual experience. While virginity and lack of experience are fairly common in teenagers and young adults, by the time many of our respondents reached their mid-twenties they reported feeling left behind by age peers. We suspect that this is especially true for gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth. In fact, all eight of the non-heterosexual respondents in our sample were either virgins or singles. As previous researchers have shown, a major reason for becoming off time in making sexual transitions is the process of coming out to oneself and others (Gonsiorek & Rudolph, 1991). Even for the heterosexuals in our study, however, it appears that lack of dating and sexual experimentation in the teen years may be precursors to problems in adult sexual relationships.}}

"The foundation for a healthy sexuality in adulthood lies in childhood and adolescence, with the discovery of one's own sexuality oftentimes going in phases. A large population study in the Netherlands amongst 7841 boys and girls aged 12–25 has shown that half of all 15-year-old adolescents have been intimate with a partner (e.g., touching each other’s genitalia). At age 16, half of all youths have experience with mutual masturbation and at age 17, half of all youths have experienced sexual intercourse and/or oral sex. Eventually, relationships and sexual intimacy become more serious; relationships last longer and are more exclusive, eventually leading to the ‘adult’ model of a committed relationship."

Other studies also confirm the importance of experiencing dating and relationships in the teenage years. For example, in the study Sexuality (and Lack Thereof) in Adolescence and Early Adulthood: A Review of the Literature., the authors wrote:

“One study showed that adult virgins have higher odds of being overweight and of being perceived as physically unattractive. Four additional studies reported that adult virgins have greater probabilities of never having been in a romantic relationship. Moreover, in a qualitative study conducted among 82 involuntary celibate adults aged 18 to 64 years, Donnelly and colleagues found that nearly all adult virgins never dated anyone, including in adolescence. Thus, findings converge to support the importance of romantic and sexual experiences during adolescence for ongoing romantic and sexual development in adulthood. Additionally, this study revealed that these adult virgins perceived themselves as being very shy and unable to establish social contacts, and reported body image issues, such as being overweight and perceiving their physical appearance to be an obstacle to their sexuality.”