Why Don’t Kids Wait to Have Sex?

One reason kids don’t wait until marriage for sex is that, without knowing the difference, they are trying to meet several different needs with only one solution. Kids don’t realize that they are attempting to meet emotional needs through sexual activity. They don’t realize that they are substituting sex for relational needs—and usually at a high price. Like the rest of us, adolescents are created with the need for love, security, intimacy, companionship, affection, spirituality, etc. When these needs go unmet—as they do occasionally for everyone—some kids turn to sex. They are hoping to fill the void they feel with sex.

Quite often they lack the skills to even recognize the true deficit in their well-being. Without being taught to understand God’s ordained role for sex in a committed marital relationship, they use it as a cheap substitute for a variety of different needs. And they may go from relationship to relationship trying to fill the void, never realizing that the answer can’t be found in someone else.