Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with waiting longer to have sex – or declining to engage in casual sex altogether. Stephanie Coontz, director of research at the Council on Contemporary Families, observes that the trend could actually reflect millennial women’s increasing sexual empowerment.

“As people have gotten much more accepting of all sorts of forms of consensual sex, they’ve also gotten more picky about what constitutes consent,” she tells the Washington Post. “We are far less accepting of pressured sex.”

“This generation appears to be waiting longer to have sex, with an increasing minority apparently waiting until their early twenties or later,” says Twenge. “It's good news for sexual and emotional health if teens are waiting until they are ready. But if young adults forgo sex completely, they may be missing out on some of the advantages of an adult romantic relationship.”

The two major reasons millennials are having less sex than their parents