受教育程度越高，性生活越少麼？|經濟學人文化

寫在前面

導圖作者：

Cece，消防人+經濟學人粉絲

精讀|翻譯|片語

Culture | The old college try

文化|盡最大努力

英文部分選自經濟學人20250215期文化板塊

Culture | The old college try

文化|盡最大努力

Does more education lead to less sex?

受教育程度越高，性生活越少麼？

Trying to make sense of the sexual “degree divide” in America

探討美國性生活的“學歷分層”

College student lying on bed with book over his head

大學生躺在床上，書本蓋在臉上

UNIVERSITY LIFE in America is often portrayed as an alcohol-fuelled, sexual free-for-all. In “The Sex Lives of College Girls”, a TV show created by Mindy Kaling, a comedian, which just concluded its third season, sexual escapades are as common as beer kegs. In reality, however, the sex lives of American university students are surprisingly tame. In 2024 one in five seniors at Harvard revealed to the Crimson, a student newspaper, that they had never had sex.

美國大學生活常被描繪為充斥飲酒作樂、放縱性愛的狂歡。喜劇演員敏迪·卡靈（Mindy Kaling）創作的電視劇《大學女生的性生活》（The Sex Lives of College Girls）剛剛播完第三季，劇中濫交的情節和啤酒桶一樣常見。然而在現實中，美國大學生的性生活出人意料得平淡乏味。據哈佛大學校報《緋紅》（TheCrimson）報道，2024年，五分之一的哈佛大學大四學生表示自己從來沒有過性生活。

註釋：give it the old college try: 英文釋義為to use one's very best effort /to try very hard。

This is not unusual. Sexual activity among college-age Americans has dropped by nearly half in the past 20 years, part of a broader decline in sexual activity that some journalists have dubbed a “sex recession” (see chart).

這一現象並不罕見。過去20年間，美國大學生年齡段人群的性行為減少了近一半，而這只是性生活普遍減少的一個縮影，一些記者稱這種趨勢為“性衰退”（見圖表）。

An analysis by The Economist suggests that a sexual slowdown is affecting not just university students but graduates, too. This is creating a “degree divide” in the bedroom. Between 2002 and 2023, 25- to 35-year-olds with a bachelor’s degree had sex 11% less often than the average adult; those with a graduate degree had sex 13% less frequently (see chart). A regression analysis of data from the National Survey of Family Growth, a survey of nearly 10,000 Americans conducted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, suggests that, even after controlling for age, drinking habits, employment, health and marriage status, a university degree is associated with 7-8% less frequent sex, on average.

《經濟學人》的一項分析顯示，性生活低迷現象不僅存在於大學在校生中，也波及畢業生。這種現象造成了臥室裡的“學歷分層”。2002至2023年間，25-35歲擁有學士學位人群的性生活頻率比一般成年人低11%；而擁有研究生學歷人群的性生活頻率比一般成年人低13%（見圖表）。基於美國疾病控制和預防中心（CDC）對近萬名美國人進行的《全國家庭成長調查》，迴歸分析顯示，即使控制年齡、飲酒習慣、就業情況、健康狀態、婚姻狀況等變數後，擁有大學學歷的個體平均性行為頻率相比對照組仍低7%-8%。

註釋：Regression Analysis：迴歸分析，是一種統計學上分析資料的方法，目的在於瞭解兩個或多個變數間是否相關、相關方向與強度

This effect is greatest among married couples. But even among single people, degree-holders are six percentage points less likely to say they had sex in the past year. This trend also holds true in Britain but not in Ireland, a country with more robust hanky-panky among the educated.

這種效應在已婚人群中最為明顯。但即使在單身人士中，擁有學位的人報告在過去一年中發生過性行為的機率也比對照組低6個百分點。英國也有這一趨勢，但在愛爾蘭則不然。愛爾蘭受教育群體的性行為更為活躍。

註釋：hanky-panky: sexual activity between two people, especially when this is regarded as improper or not serious.（不得體或不認真的）性行為

Little research has been done to answer conclusively why educated Americans would be having less frequent fun in the bedroom. The most popular theories for why people are having less sex in general, from technological distractions to young adults delaying moving out of their parents’ house, fail to explain the inactivity among university graduates specifically.Young people are marrying later and less often, and there is no doubt that this is leading to less lovemaking (married couples do it around twice as often as single people). But those with degrees marry at higher rates than those without; their marriages last longer, too.

目前鮮有研究能夠明確解釋，為何受過高等教育的美國人會相對寡慾。主流理論將當前社會總體性行為頻率降低歸咎於科技產品分散注意力、年輕人推遲搬離父母家等原因，但都無法具體解釋大學畢業生群體的性生活不活躍。年輕人結婚晚、不結婚趨勢愈發明顯，無疑會導致性行為減少（已婚人群性生活頻率約為單身群體的兩倍）。但高學歷人群結婚率更高，婚姻也更長久。

Screen time is associated with lower sex rates. But graduates do not stream or play video games more often than the rest of the population; in fact, they do so less often. Americans may be reporting higher rates of depression and anxiety than in previous decades—which can lead to lower libido—but higher education is associated with better mental health, not worse.

沉迷於電子產品也與性生活頻率降低有關。但大學畢業生刷影片、玩電子遊戲的頻率並不比其他人群高，反而還更低。如今，美國人抑鬱和焦慮的報告發生率可能比過去幾十年要高，可能導致性慾下降，但受過高等教育的人往往心理健康狀況更好，而非更差。

註釋：A person's libido is the part of their personality that is considered to cause their emotional, especially sexual, desires.性慾望

So what could be going on? Perhaps the most obvious theory is that well-educated people work more, on average, and therefore have less free time. “Certainly a percentage of people with college degrees just seem busier with professional pursuits than sex,” says Nicholas Wolfinger, a sociologist at the University of Utah. This degree-donning group also spends more time taking care of children, on average. Add in streaming platforms—“more Netflix, less chill”, as Lyman Stone, a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies puts it—and educated professionals have very little time left for romance.

那麼，究竟是什麼在起作用呢？或許最顯而易見的理論是，受過良好教育的人平均工作時間更長，因此自由時間更少。猶他大學社會學家尼古拉斯·沃爾芬格（Nicholas Wolfinger）說：“毫無疑問，一部分擁有大學學歷的人似乎忙於職業追求，而非性生活。”這類高學歷群體在照顧孩子上平均也花費更多時間。加上流媒體平臺的影響，正如家庭研究所高階研究員萊曼·斯通（Lyman Stone）所言，“奈飛越多，親密越少”，受過教育的專業人士幾乎沒有時間留給享受浪漫。

註釋：Netflix and chill is a playful, suggestive slang expression that refers to (having) a casual sexual encounter between two people hanging out at home, possibly prefaced by watching a streaming service like Netflix.（Merriam-webster）

Another theory holds that better-educated women face a smaller pool of eligible suitors, which may make it harder for them to find a mate (and mate regularly). “We have this situation where women perform better in education, and in some settings, they have better jobs, more money, which leads to a scarcity of suitable men, making it harder for people to match,” says Peter Ueda of the Karolinska Institute, a medical university in Sweden. Magdalene Taylor, a sex and culture writer, argues that college graduates, who marry later, may also be better at delaying gratification, which could influence their sexual behaviour.

另有理論認為，教育程度越高的女性，其合適的追求者越少，更難找到伴侶（那就更談不上經常有性生活）。瑞典醫學院校卡羅林斯卡學院的彼得·上田（Peter Ueda）表示，“我們發現，女性學業成績更好，在某些情況下，她們工作更好，收入更高，導致適合她們的男性更為稀缺，增加了擇偶難度。”性與文化作家瑪格達琳·泰勒（Magdalene Taylor）認為，大學畢業生結婚較晚，也可能更擅長延遲滿足，這也會影響他們的性行為。

Meanwhile, other experts posit that some traits that contribute to excellent academic performance in the classroom may lead to worse performance in the bedroom (sorry, bookworms). “There’s certainly no question young adults who are more focused on education, career and their long term success are more risk-averse, more careful, and that seems to be expressed as having less sex,” says Brad Wilcox, a sociologist at the University of Virginia. Those skilled at spreadsheets may still have a lot to learn in the bed sheets.

同時，另有專家認為，一些有助於取得優異學術表現的特質，可能會導致房事表現不佳（學霸們，對不住啦！）弗吉尼亞大學社會學家布拉德·威爾科克斯（Brad Wilcox）表示：“毫無疑問，更加關注學業、事業和長遠發展的年輕人，往往更不願冒險，更謹慎，而這似乎也體現在他們更少發生性行為上。”擅長賬上工作的人，似乎仍要好好學習帳下功夫。

翻譯組：

Ryan，詩酒趁年華
Alex，不務正業的理工男

Lee，愛騎行的婦女之友+Timberland粉

校對組：

UU，保持低調

雪迪，開眼看世界

Lucian，靈魂在傑作中冒險

感想

本期感想

Very，男，電氣民工，經濟學人資淺愛好者

很早很早以前，大學時有個老師告訴我（們），人要追求更高階的樂趣，而不是那種只受本能驅使而獲得的快樂。當我問及為何時，老師並沒有正面回答，而是打了個馬虎過去了。但當我問你是怎麼知道時，他卻故作神秘地嘿嘿一笑，說你以後就知道了。

於是我一直就秉持著這樣的信念，對於自己的慾望進行嚴格地管控，凡是由衝動引發的，我都會刻意壓制，覺得這些僅僅是原始的、本能的，不能夠給我帶來高階的樂趣。當然，我也應該是一個脫離了低階趣味的人，所以我應該去追求高階趣味。