Roll in the hay? Millennials just roll their eyes

Adults are having sex less often than they were 20 years ago, according to a study of nearly 27,000 people in the US.

Researchers found that adults generally had sex about nine fewer times a year than in the late 1990s. Those who were married or living together reported having sex 16 fewer times a year.

Jean Twenge, the study's lead author and professor of psychology at San Diego State University, said: "These data show a major reversal from previous decades in terms of marriage and sex.

"In the 1990s, married people had sex more times per year than never-married people, but by the mid-2000s that reversed, with the never-married having more sex."

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The researchers said millennials — and Generation Z that followed — were having less sex than their predecessors, in part because fewer of them were in relationships and more were living with their parents for longer.

Ryne Sherman, co-author of the study from Florida Atlantic University, told The Guardian: "One [possible factor] is the 'failure to launch' thing."

That chimed with the conclusion of the paper, that two trends were responsible for the decrease.

"Much of this decline is due to the lower marriage rate in recent years, as married individuals have sex more consistently than unmarried individuals (a similar trend appears for living together)," wrote the researchers. "In addition, those with steady partners are having sex less frequently."

The data were collected from 1989 to 2014 through a nationwide study known as the General Social Survey.

It included the question: "About how often did you have sex during the last 12 months?"

The study reported: "While those in their 20s had sex more than 80 times per year, this declined to about 60 times a year by 45 and 20 times a year by 65.

"For each year of age after the peak in sexual frequency at 25, participants reported having sex 1.18 fewer times per year.