Cheating rates of married millennials compared with baby boomers in surprising new study

New research has found that millennials are far less likely to cheat on their partners than previous generations.

In a study conducted by sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger, results suggested that people older than 55 are more adulterous than people younger than 55.

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Of those surveyed, people born between 1940 and 1959 currently aged between 60 and 79 years old were the ones who reported the highest rates of extramarital sex.

"Barring any unforeseen developments," wrote Wolfinger, "we should anticipate a future of more monogamous marriage."

Previous research has also suggested that millennials are having less sex in general than older generations.

A study of more than 25,000 Americans in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour found younger millennials are more than twice as likely to be sexually inactive in their early 20s as the previous generation, and overall have fewer sexual partners than their parents' or grandparents' generations.

And it would seem that the same applies here. The University of Auckland's Adolescent Health Research Group found one in four secondary school students reported being sexually active in 2012, down from one in three in 2007.

The teenage pregnancy rate is also falling rapidly, down 20 per cent since 2001, with a 2015 University of Waikato report partly attributing the decline to a rise in contraceptive use, and the fact less young people are having sex.

This article was first published on NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.