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Smarter Teens Have Less Sex
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wed Aug 01, 2007 09:33 AM
from the still-no-excuse-for-you dept.
from the still-no-excuse-for-you dept.
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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ohh (Score:5, Funny)
Re:ohh (Score:5, Funny)
Well, then I must have been ultrasmart... :(
Or extremely stupid. ;)
Parent
Re:ohh (Score:5, Funny)
Or ugly...don't forget looks count too.
Although, money makes up for a lot of ugly....
Parent
Not me (Score:5, Funny)
Bad news for slashdotters (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bad news for slashdotters (Score:5, Funny)
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.)
Parent
Re:Bad news for slashdotters (Score:5, Funny)
So you are saying they don't get laid?
Parent
Idiocracy (Score:5, Insightful)
Converse not true (Score:5, Funny)
Converse is statistically true (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Could be true (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
But... (Score:5, Funny)
That explains... (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:That explains... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:For a second there... (Score:5, Insightful)
Think of it this way, if everyone was as smart as you and me, we would just be of average intelligence.
Parent
Somethings wrong.. (Score:5, Funny)
A usefull vote for a change (Score:5, Funny)
How old were you, the first time you had sex:
Below 15
15
16
17
18
19+
What is sex??
Re:A usefull vote for a change (Score:5, Funny)
Below 15
15
16
17
18
19+
I'm saving myself for CowboyNeal (you insensitive clod!)
Parent
Re:A usefull vote for a change (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:A usefull vote for a change (Score:5, Funny)
The poll needs to start at 19, and go to at least 25.
And no, I'm not only saying this because I was a virgin until 23.
Parent
Only proves which kids will *say* they've had sex (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Only proves which kids will *say* they've had s (Score:5, Insightful)
yeah, right, i didn't WANT any girls to pay attention to me! that's it!
you've got to be kidding me.
Parent
quotes of quotes of quotes (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Worse than it used to be (Score:5, Interesting)
Man, I wish I was born in the Victorian era. Sigh.
Peter
Girls steer clear of us... (Score:5, Funny)
Cheers!
I'm sorry, but so what? (Score:5, Insightful)
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!"
To Quote... (Score:5, Interesting)
Now if I could only remember who said that...
My theory on why... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Probably a couple of factors... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Probably a couple of factors... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Parent
Sounds About Right to Me (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:I Believe... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:I Believe... (Score:5, Insightful)
What you know and your IQ actually tend to hurt your chances.
I hate to burst the geek bubble but it's truth.
want proof? WOZ is a rich geek but never was upper management.
Gates was never a geek, he was a poser and the face man. (sorry gate's early code is horrible and first year quality) he had business sense and knew people as well as has social skills in a bizzare way.
Jobs = Face man he is the guy that makes you like him so much you will sell him your stuff at cost or buy his product by standing in a line outside for hours when there is no supply problems.
If you are a geek and high IQ I STRONGLY suggest taking etiquette classes, social interaction classes and do everything in your power to have the knowledge to fake being good at party socializing. You have to be the guy that everyone loves in the first 15 minutes of meeting them. Speak eloquently, be good at faking that you really are interested in how well her pedicure went and how that CEO of that company had a horrifying day because he had to way 30 minutes for road service to show up and fix his flat tire.
Crack the code of socalizing, get that one done and you will become upper management.
Parent
Re:I Believe... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:That's 'cause... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:That's 'cause... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:That's 'cause... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:The question (Score:5, Funny)
I'll go cry now.
Parent
Re:The question (Score:5, Insightful)
At your age, you should be taking in as many new experiences as you can. There won't be many other times in your life where you are as unencumbered by obligations and responsibilities.
Parent
Re:The question (Score:5, Insightful)
One day you're going to meet someone you love and respect and want to stay with forever. You want to "sow your wild oats" before that, or you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what sex with other women would be like. It's a lot easer to know you've made the right choice when you've tried a few of the other options.
Parent
Re:Evolution in Action (Score:5, Funny)
Of course not, but mostly because it's really hard to find someone smarter than me.
Parent
Re:This is a good thing (Score:5, Insightful)
But there's only so much time for sex with teenagers. Get it while you can guys.
Parent
Re:Queue Slashdot Reader Love Life Jokes (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Parent
Smart, or studious? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Queue Slashdot Reader Love Life Jokes (Score:5, Insightful)
If by "first woman" you mean, the first woman to captivate me with her beauty, grace, and intelligence, then I suppose you could say that. Certainly, I was never attracted to the types of airheads that less honorable boys find so easy to "get in the sack". When a girl took several weeks before she finally got the punchline to "there are three types of people in the world", I did not find it charming or cute. I found it horrifying, and would rather have stayed a virgin for the rest of my life than try to build a relationship with someone like that.
If all you want in a mate is someone to have sex with, then that is your choice. I believe that God gave me a brain to think with and make intelligent decisions, not allow my loins to drive me. One of those decisions was staying true to who I am when finding a woman to spend my life with. And wouldn't you know it, the woman I chose was also the type to want more than just a physical relationship. She could have had any man she wanted, but she didn't. She chose me instead.
A relationship like that makes one remember how unique that other person is. And how important it is to make the time, put in the effort, and give the attention necessary to keep that relationship thriving over the years.
It's easy for me to give a flippant answer to a flippant statement, but I'd rather say something that will actually *help* people. And if there is one thing I can say, it's this: Relationships are about commitment. The best method of telling if someone is for you or not is not their looks or any "compatibility" tests. It's asking yourself if you're willing to devote the rest of your life to them and them to you. THAT is the true test of a relationship.
Parent
Re:Queue Slashdot Reader Love Life Jokes (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think you intended to say she chose someone she didn't want :)
In any case, I agree with you. All it takes is 1 or 2 really bad relationships to show you that the best alternative to a good relationship is to be alone. I'm not saying you should hold out for a perfect person (there is no such thing) but focus instead on the qualities of character. Personality, intelligence, humor, etc. is much more important than looks, because honestly... after 40+ years of marriage, s/he isn't going to look all that hot anyway. If you marry someone who is hot but stupid and shallow... after a few decades they'll by ugly, stupid and shallow. Trust me on this.
Parent
Re:Queue Slashdot Reader Love Life Jokes (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Queue Slashdot Reader Love Life Jokes (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:I must be a fucking genious!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Which just goes to show - regardless of what those Wild Co-eds On Spring Break Woo-Hoo! videos seem to show, it's just as hard to get some if you're a lesbian.
Parent
Re: Smarter Teens Have Less Sex (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not quite sure what grades are a good measure of. Being able to color inside the lines? Following instructions and memorizing facts? Rarely they can measure understanding and creativity, but that's highly dependent on the skill of the instructor creating the assignments.
Parent