Life without sex: The physical and personality traits linked to long-term virgins

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-09-17 12:55

Australia; International; VIC; QLD

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People who remain virgins into adulthood are on average more educated, less likely to use alcohol or drugs, and more likely to be nervous, lonely and unhappy, according to an Australian and international study. The researchers analysed the traits of about 400,000 UK virgins aged 39-73 and 13,500 Australian virgins aged 18-89 to look for similarities among those who go well into adulthood without ever having sex. The researchers say common genetic variants explained about 17% and 14% of variation in sexlessnesses in men and women respectively, though they stress there is no virgin gene - links between genetics and behaviour are too complex for that. They say physical traits appeared to be more strongly linked to virginity in men, men were more likely to be virgins if they lived in areas with fewer women, and sexlessness was more common in regions with higher income inequality.

Media release

From: PNAS

Traits and factors associated with lifelong sexlessness

In a study of around 400,000 adults in the United Kingdom and around 13,500 adults in Australia, researchers explored factors tied to living without sex. The analysis found that individuals who reported never having had sex were on average more educated, less likely to use substances, more nervous, lonelier, and unhappier, compared with other individuals. Further, common genetic variants accounted for around 17% and 14% of the variation in sexlessness in men and women, respectively. The findings provide insights into genetic, physical, cognitive, and socioecological factors associated with lifelong sexlessness, according to the authors.

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Research PNAS, Web page

Journal/
conference: PNAS

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Melbourne, QIMR Berghofer, The University of Queensland, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Germany, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Funder: This study was conducted using UK Biobank resources under application number 40310. K.J.H.V. and A.A. are supported by the Foundation Volksbond Rotterdam. A.A. is supported by The Amsterdam UMC Fellowship. R.A is supported by the Czech Health Research Council (Grant No. NU21J-04- 00024) and a MSCA Fellowships CZ, OP JAK (Grant No. CZ.02.01.01/00/22_010/0002828). Open access funding provided by the Max Planck Society.

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