Most Americans have premarital sex. More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past. "This is reality-check research," said the study's author, Lawrence Finer. "Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades." The study, released Tuesday, appears in the new issue of Public Health Reports. The study, examining how sexual behavior before marriage has changed over time, was based on interviews conducted with more than 38,000 people. According to Finer's analysis, 99 percent of the respondents had had sex by age 44, and 95 percent had done so before marriage. The study found women virtually as likely as men to engage in premarital sex, even those born decades ago. Among women born between 1950 and 1978, at least 91 percent had had premarital sex by age 30, while among those born in the 1940s, 88 percent had done so by age 44. "The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government's funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for 12- to 29-year-olds," Finer said. Under the Bush administration, such programs have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. "It would be more effective," Finer said, "to provide young people with the skills and information they need to be safe once they become sexually active." 點擊查看更多雙語新聞 (AP)

一項最新調查表明，90%的美國人，無論男女，都有過婚前性行為。而在上世紀40年代出生的女性中，有過這一行為的人竟然也很多，這讓人們不禁質疑過去的女性更加注重貞潔這種看法。 調查報告撰寫者勞倫斯·范恩說：“這是一項反思現實的調查。幾十年以來，婚前性行為對于大多數美國人來說都是很正常的事情。” 這項于本周二公布的調查結果在最新一期的《公共健康報告》中發表。 此項調查共對38000人進行了訪問，其主要目的是了解婚前性行為這一問題幾十年來有何變化。據范恩分析，99%的調查對象在44歲前有過性行為，而95%的人是有過婚前性行為的。 調查發現，女性其實跟男性一樣有婚前性行為，幾十年前出生的女性也不例外。在1950年至1978年間出生的女性中，至少91%的人在30歲前有過婚前性行為；在上世紀40年代出生的女性中，88%的人在44歲前有過婚前性行為。 范恩說：“這些數據表明，大多數的青少年和成年人都有過婚前性行為，看來聯邦政府為‘12歲至29歲禁欲計劃’提供的資金支持沒起到什么效果。” 布什政府已為這些計劃提供了幾百萬的資金支持。 范恩說：“向年輕人宣傳安全性行為的知識其實更為重要。” （英語點津姍姍編輯）