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Old 09-25-2008, 06:22 PM   #46
MarchHare
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Location: YSJ (1979-2002) -> YYC (2002-2022) -> YVR (2022-present)
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I know of exactly one couple who waited until marriage before having sex. They were also very religious high school sweethearts who married before they turned 20.

Of course, the word "anecdote" is not the singular form of the word "data", so let's try to inject some actual figures into this conversation.

These statistics are from the United States, but I wouldn't expect rates of pre-marital sex amongst Canadians to be significantly different. According to this, 97% of Americans who have ever had sex before the age of 44 have had pre-marital sex.

Quote:
Data from the 2002 survey indicate that by age 20, 77% of respondents
had had sex, 75% had had premarital sex, and 12% had married; by age
44, 95% of respondents (94% of women, 96% of men, and 97% of those who
had ever had sex) had had premarital sex. Even among those who abstained
until at least age 20, 81% had had premarital sex by age 44. Among cohorts
of women turning 15 between 1964 and 1993, at least 91% had had premarital
sex by age 30. Among those turning 15 between 1954 and 1963, 82% had had
premarital sex by age 30, and 88% had done so by age 44.

Conclusions. Almost all Americans have sex before marrying. These findings
argue for education and interventions that provide the skills and information
people need to protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases once they become sexually active, regardless of marital
status.
http://www.publichealthreports.org/u...22-1_73-78.pdf
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