When you understand generations as ARCHETYPES,
When you know that culture change–and all its attendant data points–are cyclical, and
When you can see the underlying patterns and tides of change through such a lens,
—> Then articles such as this one about the decline of teen sexual activity, from the National Review and Michael New, make sense.
The reason there has been a 20-year decline in teen sexual activity is GENERATIONAL in its roots.
Neil Howe has been talking about this subject for ages: how #millennials (born 1982-2005 — yes, that’s correct), are less sexually active and are delaying marriage. FWIW – Don’t believe the echo-chamber hype about Gen Z; it’s not a true generation. Millennials in 2023 are 17-41 years old and ALL that teen sexual-activity data for the past 20 years is specifically data about Millennials: first-wave, mid-point and late-wave Millennials, yeah, but Millennials all the same.
Millennials are, by nature, a very risk-averse generation, especially when compared to Risk-is-My-Middle-Name GenXers and Boomers, who in youth, were the bastions of youth pathologies (drug use, violence, suicide, teen pregnancies and such) and other such dangerous behaviors.
The generation after Millennials (born 2006 to the late 2020s) are the “high school bride” generation and are a generational archetype EARLY to marry, early to to leave their parents’ homes and early to settle down–and stay settled down … well, until their generation starts to hit its mid-40s, then next Boomer-like generation comes of age raging against the functioning, efficient, happy productive world their parents’ generation (the Millennials) create, thus sparking another “awakening era” when adults once-again shed, en masse, responsibilities for family and community and focus on self and personal needs, instead.
Read Neil Howe’s work for fascinating insights into large-scale culture change.
