Premarital sex refers to sexual relations between two people prior to marrying to each other. There is a common question among teens and engaged couples that "is it okay to have premarital sex?". Morality is a factor for many people when deciding whether or not to have premarital sex. Nowadays, some columnist in the newspaper writes an editorial bemoaning the problem of unwed parenthood. There are few that have dealt solely with the attitudes of society on premarital sexual practices.
Ira Reiss has been the major figure in the development of a sociological analysis of premarital sex through his conceptualization and research efforts (Bell 1966). The percentage of women having premarital sex has exceeded 80% since the late 1970. There is a significant difference in the attitudes about premarital sex between students, college age, 18-25 and the previous generation, 38-45. It also looked at the differences of males and females of both age groups and compared their attitudes.
Furthermore, sex outside of wedlock is not a new phenomenon. Certainly there is a tendency among many to think that things are worse than they are and always getting worse. The statistic confirmed that things are out of control now. In the 1960s, 25 percent of young men and 45 percent of young women were virgins at age 19 by the 1980s, fewer than 20 percent of males and females were.
The vast majority of people are having sexual intercourse before marriage. Thus, although along with the teenage drop in premarital sex, there has been a corresponding drop in the number of abortions, the decrease that we might hope for in unwed pregnancies and abortions has not occurred.
Why are young people so prone to engage in premarital sex? Certainly, the human condition, original sin, and concupiscence explain a great deal, but there is also much evidence that we are doing little to combat the effects of