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Smarter Teens Have Less Sex 1285

Tech.Luver writes "Gene Expression reports, "Tyler Cowen quotes from a new study testing the relationship between grades and delayed sexual activity. Last December I passed a paper along to Razib showing that high-school age adolescents with higher IQs and extremely low IQs were less likely to have had first intercourse than those with average to below average intelligence. (i.e. for males with IQs under 70, 63.3% were still virgins, for those with IQs between 70-90 only 50.2% were virgin, 58.6% were virgins with IQs between 90-110, and 70.3% with IQs over 110 were virgins) In fact, a more detailed study from 2000 is devoted strictly to this topic, and finds the same thing: Smart Teens Don't Have Sex (or Kiss Much Either). ""
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Smarter Teens Have Less Sex

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  • by idontgno ( 624372 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:34AM (#20070531) Journal
    in 3..2..1..
    • Queue Slashdot Reader Love Life Jokes

      Slashdot readers have such high IQs that they realize that sex leads to babies, contraceptives don't work 100%, having intimate contact with some random person is a good way to get disease, and that one should save themselves for a life-partner so that they're ready for the responsibilities that come with sex while simultaneously avoiding the issue of STDs. So they don't have sex as teens.

      HAHAHAHA! Isn't that funny?

      ...

      Anyone?
      • by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:36AM (#20071745) Homepage Journal
        "Slashdot readers have such high IQs that they realize that sex leads to babies, contraceptives don't work 100%, having intimate contact with some random person is a good way to get disease, and that one should save themselves for a life-partner so that they're ready for the responsibilities that come with sex while simultaneously avoiding the issue of STDs. So they don't have sex as teens.

        HAHAHAHA! Isn't that funny? "

        Hehehe...you had me going there for awhile.

        Really...it sounds bad, but, I'd almost recommend for teens to have as much sex as possible at that age, just use protection!!!

        That is the only time in your life where you'll be able to (in some cases legally) to screw teen girls while everything is tight and where it is supposed to be. Gravity takes a toll on the old human body as you get older. And with people getting obese at earlier and earlier ages....get some fun in while you and potential partners are in good shape.

        Especially true for guys. As a teen, you are in your prime and best years for sex...stamina, endurance. Do it now and do it as often with as much variety as you can. In a few short years, you will start going downhill....and your selection of partners will be older and more worn looking too. Enjoy it while it is good, and build those memories.

        Sounds really against the grain of normal recommendations, but, as I get older, I realize it is that way. I'm glad I got as much as I did growing up...wish I'd had even more...

        So, I say GO for it....you're only young ONCE!!

        • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @12:04PM (#20072245)
          yeah, great idea, have it with as many people as possible. it sounds like STD Pokemon. "Gotta catch them all"
        • by sootman ( 158191 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @01:08PM (#20073591) Homepage Journal
          That is the only time in your life where you'll be able to (in some cases legally) to screw teen girls while everything is tight and where it is supposed to be. Gravity takes a toll on the old human body as you get older.

          That's why they let you buy alcohol once you're 21. :-)
      • by phorm ( 591458 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @12:01PM (#20072157) Journal
        My observation has been that those who are more hard-working or studious tend to have less time for relationships, physical included, and the other things that come along with them (children, etc). Perhaps it's not so much that they're smart as that they're busy?
      • by BakaHoushi ( 786009 ) <Goss.Sean@gma i l .com> on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @01:00PM (#20073443) Homepage
        I am a 20 year old engineering major male white college student.
        I have a case of asperger's syndrome (And before anyone accuses me of being self-diagnosed, I'd not even heard of it until a therapist diagnosed me).
        And, not to sound egotistical, but I like to think that I have above-average intelligence. I'm not a genius, nor a whiz at anything, nor do I have Mensa begging for me to enroll, but I do feel I have sufficient evidence to suggest I'm smarter (using a definition akin to "able to interpret, recall, and use information) than the average 20 year old.

        Do I even need to add that I'm a complete virgin? I've never gotten to second base. Or first base. Hell, I didn't get up to bat. I'm not even a benchwarmer. (I just used up all my sports analogies.)

        My social skills have improved since grade school, and I'm nowhere near as shy as I used to be (But then again, it's no substitute for real interaction, but spend years online and you do tend to develop a tolerance to mockery and jerks.)

        But I've still never had a girlfriend. Not even close. I feel this is due to both a lack of interest, a lack of experience, well below-average social skills, and a lack of eligible bachelorettes (see: Engineering major).

        Quite frankly, in my free time between classes at my college I go to the lounge, where I meet a vast number of different people. Most of the females are:
        A: taken
        B: incompatible with my nature (I don't mind someone having different interests and ideas than me, but SOME common ground is nice.)
        C: Bat-shit crazy demons I wouldn't touch with a 39 and a half foot pole, let alone my bare hands.Many of these, in particular, I strongly suspect, are carrying a multitude of STDs, given how much they broadcast the sex they have.

        On top of all this lies a series of moral dilemmas, such as giving in to carnal desires when I know the risks, the necessity of intimacy, the risks of getting caught... It just seems too complicated and risky to be worth the effort, especially outside of a relationship. (Not to mention how DISGUSTING sex is, when you REALLY think about it. I mean considering the biological processes involved. Though I'm sure this is lost "in the heat of the moment," it doesn't really make me any more disposed to seeking it out)

        On the other hand, take my brother. Bless his soul for all the hard manual labor he does, and helping my father with his business so we didn't go OUT of business when he was injured, etc. But I use more brain power before 6am than he does all day. He admits proudly that he HATES to think and just acts. He's gone through girlfriends like candy and I'm sure has gotten laid more than a few times.

        Ultimately, it seems to me that love and sex are purely animalistic and primal desires with little to no logic to them. Thus, those prone to analyzing their actions OVER analyze these things and have less success or less desire or both.

        That, and my brother is currently out doing things. I'm on slashdot and going to go play City of Heroes in a while. That may have something to do with it, too.
  • ohh (Score:5, Funny)

    by SuperDre ( 982372 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:35AM (#20070541) Homepage
    Well, then I must have been ultrasmart... :(
  • by Landshark17 ( 807664 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:35AM (#20070551)
    The smarter you are the more likely you are to be on /. and if you're on /. well... we all know what that does to your sex life.
    • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) * on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:43AM (#20070691)
      No I wouldn't say that. Slashdot is filled with some smart people and a lot of people who want to be smart... Just because you can use Linux doesn't mean you are smart, just becasue you can't doesn't mean you are stupid. I know some people who use Slashdot and run linux with actual below average IQ's. I would say while the average IQ on shashdot is above average is just because it is a convient source of news (or at least use to be it has been getting dumbed down over the years) of Science/Technical Information so experts in such fields use it to get some information... But just because you are a geek or a nerd it doesn't mean you are smart, just a social outcast.
      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        I don't know why stupid social outcasts would want to join us... we're the most elitist group in the world. Make a stupid comment and you're ignored or ridiculed.. write crappy software and you're hated by millions of people.. stroll into the AI lab [wikipedia.org] knowing the system but making ugly code (Gerry Sussman) and you're a social outcast for a year until you can prove yourself.
    • by vfrex ( 866606 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:44AM (#20070717)
      Now I am conflicted. Half of my inner geek wants to laugh and take the joke, and the other wants to rail on you for creating causation from correlation. But either way, I'm posting on /.
    • by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:55AM (#20070903) Homepage
      Since I've started reading /., my sex life has never been better!
  • Not me (Score:5, Funny)

    by My name is Bucket ( 1020933 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:36AM (#20070557)
    I've got a girlfriend in Brazil. She's a model and I can go down and have sex with her whenever I want.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by ParaShoot ( 992496 )
      And I've got a girlfriend in Thailand! We'll be married as soon as she can get a visa and I can scramble together enough money for her plane ticket.
  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:36AM (#20070579) Journal
    Since slashdotters have typically IQ in the range of 160 to 220, the will remain virgins till age 72 or so by my extrapolation.
    • by BitterOak ( 537666 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:56AM (#20070913)

      Since slashdotters have typically IQ in the range of 160 to 220, the will remain virgins till age 72 or so by my extrapolation.

      So you're saying that based on the average Slashdot post, you would assign an IQ of 160 to 220 to the general Slashdot population. I assume you're joking. (People with Mod points, however, are actually extremely intelligent and discerning.)

      • by everphilski ( 877346 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:57AM (#20070953) Journal
        People with Mod points, however, are actually extremely intelligent and discerning.

        So you are saying they don't get laid? :)
  • Idiocracy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bunratty ( 545641 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:37AM (#20070587)
    Idiocracy [imdb.com], here we come!
  • by Trivial_Zeros ( 1058508 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:37AM (#20070591)
    I know this is Slashdot, so the majority of users have not had sex. But if you think this article is implying that means you're smart.. you have just committed a common logical fallacy. Sorry to burst your bubble.
    • by f97tosc ( 578893 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:01AM (#20071023)
      If groups with different IQs have different sex habits, and I learn about your sex habits, then by using Bayes' theorem I can also make inferences about your IQ. Obviously just statistical inferences ("he has less sex, therefore, he is more likely to be smart"), but still.
      • Not quite (Score:4, Interesting)

        by abb3w ( 696381 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:55AM (#20072063) Journal

        If groups with different IQs have different sex habits, and I learn about your sex habits, then by using Bayes' theorem I can also make inferences about your IQ. Obviously just statistical inferences ("he has less sex, therefore, he is more likely to be smart"), but still.

        Except that the change happens in both directions away from the average, so the most you can make is a statistical inference about how far from the norm they probably are, rather than in which direction.

        • Re:Not quite (Score:5, Insightful)

          by griffjon ( 14945 ) <GriffJon&gmail,com> on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @01:13PM (#20073689) Homepage Journal
          Actually I think you're on to something that the FA glosses over (or doesn't have strong enough statistical support to claim, perhaps). Do the most normal people have the most sex, by benefit of having the widest selection of potential partners that are similar to them? I remember the dating pool of people with IQs over ~110; it was ... slim and awkward pickings. If amount of sex correlates with number of potential partners, and potential partners similarly is connected to people "about the same as you" on various scales, of which IQ is easily measurable, then those in the middle of a bell curve on IQ have a wider community of potential partners and are more likely to have more sex.

          That's a lot of connections, so I'm not surprised that it's not brought out. Nevertheless, IQ as a measure may just be a proxy for an underlying mechanism.
    • Could be true (Score:5, Interesting)

      by megaditto ( 982598 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:01AM (#20071045)
      The real question is, are some teens getting less sex because they are smart, or are they smart because they are getting less sex (for whatever reason)?
  • But... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:38AM (#20070605) Homepage
    Isn't the definition of a "smart teen", one that DOES have sex? You gotta admit; the teens that have sex must be doing something smart.
  • by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:39AM (#20070625) Homepage Journal

    That explains the mouth-breathing 14 year olds pushing their babies in strollers and carrying another in their belly I see lumbering around downtown Winnipeg at lunch. They should coat welfare cheques with birth control hormones.

    • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:03AM (#20071071)
      Damn right, if they could breath through their nose, they could easily avoid getting pregnant.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by nido ( 102070 )
      That explains the mouth-breathing 14 year olds...

      In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM, 5000 year history), mouth breathing is considered indicative of the central & governing meridians being 'unhooked'. The Central Meridian runs from the pubic bone up the front of the body, while the Governing Meridian runs from the tailbone up the spine and over the top of the head. They meet where the tip of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth.

      Mouth breathing is something that needs to be fixed. Donna Eden [innersource.net] (w
  • by GreggBz ( 777373 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:40AM (#20070647) Homepage
    I should be a super genius.
  • by TheSunborn ( 68004 ) <mtilstedNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:42AM (#20070681)
    This would actuelly make a really cool Slashdot vote.
    How old were you, the first time you had sex:
    Below 15
    15
    16
    17
    18
    19+
    What is sex??
  • by LighterShadeOfBlack ( 1011407 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:42AM (#20070685) Homepage
    Maybe smarter kids generally just don't feel the need to lie about having sex. And extremely stupid ones don't think to lie about it. Just a thought.
    • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) * on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:55AM (#20070889)
      Simpler then that...
      Teenagers with low IQ normally are not left alone to do what they will. Because parents don't trust them to do the smart thing because they arn't, combined with the fact they get usually get extra adult help means less exposure with other kids, and the oposit sex feels guilty about sexual activity with that group, so combined that will make a lower rate.

      High IQ teens stop and think and realize that risks of Sex as a teenager (STD, Pregnacny) will get in away with their life plans being with higher IQ society expects more from them with their life plans so they stay away from such risks. Basicly I am not going to let a Baby get in my way to become a doctor. After I get my degree and a steady job then I may focus on having a family, Logical reasoning by people with higher IQ.

      Teens in the middle are not pressured to become a Doctor or whatever so they have less ambitions for life and figure it may be worth the risk. Combined with the fact they may not think things fully out and let biological pressures take over what people say they should do.
      • by pezpunk ( 205653 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:01AM (#20071031) Homepage
        i was one of those high-IQ virgins and let me state, from first hand experience, the following: HA HA HA HA HA!

        yeah, right, i didn't WANT any girls to pay attention to me! that's it!

        you've got to be kidding me.
      • by merreborn ( 853723 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @02:20PM (#20074943) Journal

        Simpler then that...
        Teenagers with low IQ normally are not left alone to do what they will. Because parents don't trust them to do the smart thing because they arn't, combined with the fact they get usually get extra adult help means less exposure with other kids, and the oposit sex feels guilty about sexual activity with that group, so combined that will make a lower rate.

        High IQ teens stop and think and realize that risks of Sex as a teenager (STD, Pregnacny) will get in away with their life plans being with higher IQ society expects more from them with their life plans so they stay away from such risks. Basicly I am not going to let a Baby get in my way to become a doctor. After I get my degree and a steady job then I may focus on having a family, Logical reasoning by people with higher IQ.

        Teens in the middle are not pressured to become a Doctor or whatever so they have less ambitions for life and figure it may be worth the risk. Combined with the fact they may not think things fully out and let biological pressures take over what people say they should do.


        Given the poor spelling, random capitalization, and generally dreadful grammar, I can draw only one conclusion: You must have gotten tons of action in high school.
  • by UbuntuDupe ( 970646 ) * on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:43AM (#20070699) Journal
    You gotta love how far-removed this quotation gets:

    Cmdr Taco posts that:
    Tech_Luver writes that:
    Gene Expression reports that:
    Tyler Cowen quotes from a:
    Razib paper showing that:
    A survey found that:

    ***

    I'm worried that if I tell someone that I read about this on slashdot, the universe might implode.
  • by pzs ( 857406 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:43AM (#20070711)
    In the Victorian era, the celebrities of the time were engineers and scientists - the people who shaped the world, rather than the vapid, talentless bimbos we celebrate today. We can only hope that at some point in the future, it will once again be cool to be smart.

    Man, I wish I was born in the Victorian era. Sigh.

    Peter
    • by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:58AM (#20070973) Journal
      We can only hope that at some point in the future, it will once again be cool to be smart.


      Ask and you shall receive [cnn.com].

    • by Valdrax ( 32670 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @01:24PM (#20073897)
      Not really. They were more popular than they are today, but athletes, pretty boys, soldiers, and politicians had their good share of attention too. Scientists who made something fascinated were well-liked, but your average smart guy who hadn't yet had a break was just as "boring" as any geek today.

      Let's not forget that women of intellect weren't well valued either. Famous women scientists were considered a fascinating aberration but not the kind of girl you'd want to marry -- after all men were expected to be the heads of the family, and you wouldn't want too "headstrong" and "independent" of a woman.

      There is nothing new under the sun.
  • by vigmeister ( 1112659 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @10:51AM (#20070845)
    becasue we wear tinfoil condoms.

    Cheers!
  • by dominion ( 3153 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:00AM (#20071011) Homepage

    I'm in my mid-twenties, and I didn't have sex until the very end of high school, and didn't date at all, and I seriously don't feel like I missed out on a damn thing. Sex when I was 18 was awkward and boring, I can't imagine the kind of horrible flopping around I would have had if I had been 14 or 15.

    I know we live in an ephebophilic society where your teenage years are supposed to be when the best years of anyone's life, but let's all be honest here: Being a teenager sucks. You can't drive, you can't drink without having to sneak around, you're kind of an idiot, you don't know what the hell you're doing when it comes to members of the opposite sex, and that's not even starting to mention acne, braces and a bad fashion sense. I much prefer my twenties, and I'm looking forward to my thirties. I'm having a great time compared to ten years ago.

    So maybe being smart and not having sex in high school isn't that groundbreaking of a correlation. Why is it so important to have any sex when you're in high school anyways? Shouldn't it be more important to have good sex when you're older? Where's the study on sex lives of single smart twenty- and thirty-somethings? I'd be interested in that study.

    P.S. Watch the "abstinence only" crowd use this as ammunition: "See! Smart teenagers choose abstinence!"
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by chrysrobyn ( 106763 )

      Sex when I was 18 was awkward and boring, I can't imagine the kind of horrible flopping around I would have had if I had been 14 or 15. ... I much prefer my twenties, and I'm looking forward to my thirties. I'm having a great time compared to ten years ago.

      I'm in my thirties. I've got to tell you, the 20s were pretty darn good. And if you're a teenager who realizes his limitations and is willing to have fun, despite the awkwardness, you have fun too -- no matter what you're doing.

      It seems to me that

  • To Quote... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by morari ( 1080535 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:05AM (#20071115) Journal
    "An intellectual is someone who has found something more interesting than sex."

    Now if I could only remember who said that...

  • by BytePusher ( 209961 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:11AM (#20071217) Homepage
    There are a few of reasons I think this might be true:
    1. Smarter teens believe that sex can be risky. Namely: Unwanted pregnancy, disease, emotional distress and not to mention social pressures from parents.
    2. Smarter teens may have higher standards as they are able to distinguish better between "good mate" and "not so good mate."
    2a. Finding a good mate may mean finding an intellectual equal.
    3. A deep fulfilling intellectual and emotional relationship may be more important than and a prerequisite to simple sexual pleasure.
  • by petrus4 ( 213815 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:15AM (#20071323) Homepage Journal
    As an example case, I was a virgin until I was 26. Yes, if I'm honest it's true that I had utterly no clue how to understand or communicate with the opposite sex, but I'll also admit that sex quite simply isn't something that I've ever consistently had a strong interest in.

    Although this is nothing whatsoever against the person who this happened with, even after losing my virginity, I can remember thinking of that experience, while reasonably enjoyable and positive, as not seeming to deserve anything like the degree of hype that most people associate with the act. Most of the people I've known seem to regard sex as being the pinnacle of human experience, and that is an attitude which I find deeply sad.

    I know that a predictable response to this will probably be to speculate that I am in fact homosexual, but I do not believe that to be the case, and to be honest, that is something else about the customary attitude towards sex that I find deeply pathetic. Namely the idea that if a person doesn't have one preference, then they *must* by definition have another, because not being helplessly addicted to sex in either straight or gay form is supposedly completely impossible...in most people's minds, it just doesn't compute.

    Some of us honestly view reproduction as being the domain of animals. Given that we have more than enough other human beings who are quite happy to devote their own lives to that activity, this means that those of us who have that attitude are also able to persue the expansion and enhancement of our minds, without fear as to the possible consequences to the human population.

    If you're someone for whom sex is the most important element of your existence, I'd strongly advocate getting a life.
    • by SIIHP ( 1128921 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:46AM (#20071897) Journal
      "Some of us honestly view reproduction as being the domain of animals."

      There it is. If you were being completely honest with yourself, you'd admit that you think your ability to do without sex makes you more evolved, more developed. That sentence displays your thinking quite obviously.

      Sadly for you, that's ridiculous. Sex is a wonderful, pleasant, somewhat messy, but ultimately fantastic part of the human experience. Missing out on it is not something to be celebrated.

      Yours is the classic sour grapes position. If I can't have it, it wasn't that good anyway.
    • A counter view (Score:5, Insightful)

      by snowwrestler ( 896305 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @12:27PM (#20072797)
      First, I'm not going to call you a homosexual (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

      I'll just point out that from a scientific perspective, we are animals, and from a genetic point of view, reproduction is the pinnacle of our existence. From an evolutionary standpoint, there's not much purpose to our lives if we don't pass on our genes. I know that not every smart person is scientifically inclined, but I think it's safe to say that scientific understanding takes intelligence. It is not unintelligent to recognize the importance of sex in human lives.

      From a non-scientific standpoint, I think there is an important debate, common to us all, about what provides the greatest satisfaction and enjoyment (and meaning) in life. Is it achievement, or is it connection? I think it's safe to say that you'll find many smart, successful people who nevertheless believe that their love and family is the most satisfying and important part of their lives. The idea that sex/achievement is a binary choice is false. Einstein and Hemingway and Picasso (and etc) all had lovers.

      From a strictly physical standpoint, sex can create feelings that are unachievable any other way. But the same is true from an emotional standpoint as well--there's no closer emotional connection that can be made to another person. Physical intimacy is the distinguishing characteristic of love, of partner from friend. I don't find anything sad about that.
  • hmm (Score:4, Funny)

    by lifestyl3 ( 1012781 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:16AM (#20071343) Homepage
    I can't believe a story that basically says, "nerds lack social skills", made it to the front page. :)
  • by segedunum ( 883035 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @11:19AM (#20071417)
    Having thought back to my High School days, much of this sounds pretty accurate. I know there'll be many Slashdot jokes around about this, but think seriously about it for a bit. Those who threw it out there too much at High School, how many of those people who you knew are now living on crap wages, in a crap job, are unmarried, uncommitted and immature parents or single mothers struggling to keep a roof over their heads with no ability to plan for the future?

    I live in the UK, but the answer in my case is all of the people I could think of scarily. I caught up with a few people from High School not long ago, and the stuff that's happened to many of the people from school who concentrated on sex and immature relationships is shocking. It's a tale of divorce, single motherhood, poverty and immaturity. These people also tend to be extremely crap at romantic and sexual relationships when they're older, as well as pretty immature. Taking one example, how many people in their late twenties think that getting married to someone you only met six months ago, divorcing that person a few years later, getting back together with an ex a few months after said divorce and having a baby with that person after only a few weeks or months of being together is mature? They still act like 15 year olds, and in some cases, worse.

    As for me, I have a good job with good money, working with people who I like and get on with, I have a lovely girlfriend and I'm still as horny as hell from all that High School abstinence ;-).

    Seriously though, looking around from my own personal experience, scarily, I think a whole social underclass is being created. I also think this is largely responsible for the increase in divorce, the increase in single motherhood and the inevitable problems for their children that has brought with it. Those having sex in High School generally just aren't mature enough to handle sex, and that's setting them up for life.
  • by photomonkey ( 987563 ) on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @05:13PM (#20077689)

    The act of sexual intercourse is a very natural human instinct. I would bet that a majority of people out there have sex, or at least have had sex at some point.

    In theory, 50% of the people out there, teens or otherwise, are in the middle of the intelligence spectrum. The remainder of the population naturally gravitate to one of the other extremes.

    Now, by definition, people approaching either extreme of the curve are increasingly further away from the 'average middle'.

    I don't have handy any information about what the personal habits of 'non-normal' people are (when plotted across a curve of intelligence), but since the mind is perhaps our singular most defining feature as a species, I would hypothesize that people of average intelligence behave in very average ways.

    Since sexual intercourse is a 'normal' or 'average' behavior, I bet that most of the people with 'normal' or 'average' intelligence participate in the act according to the average frequency of their peers.

    I would also hypothesize that deviations from 'average' intelligence on either side of the curve change a great many behavioral characteristics. Since sexual behavior is (in my opinion) a baser, hard-wired bit of evolutionary programming, no doubt intelligence has some relationship with sexual behavior.

    A lot of the relationship here, though is probably due to basic statistics and very difficult-to-quantify variables. A majority of people behave as the majority of people do.

  • by McSnarf ( 676600 ) * on Wednesday August 01, 2007 @06:25PM (#20078559)
    As the German saying goes: "Dumm fickt gut", which roughly translates as "A stupid person is a great lay." It appears that you cannot beat experience here...

One man's constant is another man's variable. -- A.J. Perlis

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