Despite living in a culture that has evolved to a point where sex is openly discussed and accepted in many forms, Americans are having sex less frequently than they were 25 years ago, according to a new study.

The decrease is due to two primary factors: an increasing number of individuals without steady or marital partners, and a decline in sexual frequency among those with partners.

“These data speak to the shifting nature of sex and relationships and provide further evidence that young adults today are not hooking up as often as media representations would lead us to believe,” said Brooke Wells, Associate Professor in the Center for Human Sexuality Studies at Widener University. The center houses one of the only doctoral programs in human sexuality studies at a fully-accredited university in the U.S.

Wells worked in coordination with Jean M. Twenge of San Diego State University and Ryne A. Sherman of Florida Atlantic University in analyzing data from the General Social Survey, a nationally representative survey of more than 30,000 U.S. adults that gathered information about how often people have sex. They recently published their findings in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Fewer Americans are in partnerships now than in the recent past. Those between the ages of 18 and 29 who are not living with a partner have increased from 48 percent in 2005 to 64 percent in 2014.

“While previous research has consistently indicated that partnered people have sex more frequently than single people, the partnership advantage seems to be shrinking,” Wells said.

The study also shows average American adults had sex about 64 times a year in 2002, but the activity had dropped to 53 times a year by 2014. It revealed sexual frequency declined among people who are married or living together, but stayed steady among those without partners.

The decline was largest among white people, married people, those in their 50s, those with a college degree, and those with children between ages 6 and 12 at home. The largest declines were among the highly educated and those who are married or living together.

“Surprisingly, work hours did not explain the decline,” Wells said. “In fact, those who worked more hours actually reported more frequent sex. However, the study did not examine time spent connected to work outside of work hours, or screen time, both of which may negatively impact sexual frequency.”

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