The sharp rise in the number of young people waiting longer to have sex may be because of a “fear of intimacy” and the pressure of social media, according to analysts. (Stock picture)

Millennials are waiting longer to have sex, with one in eight still a virgin at 26 years old, new research has found.

The sharp rise in the number of young people waiting longer to have sex may be because of a "fear of intimacy" and the pressure of social media, according to analysts.

The Next Steps project, the brainchild of the British Department for Education which is now managed by University College London, has tracked 16,000 people born in the UK 1989-90 since they were 14.

The interviews, conducted in 2016, discovered a rise in the number of millennials waiting longer to have sex compared to previous generations, where one in 20 reported still being virgins at around the same age.

Susanna Abse, a psychotherapist at the Balint Consultancy, said: "Millennials have been brought up in a culture of hypersexuality which has bred a fear of intimacy. The women are always up for it with beautiful hard bodies and the men have permanent erections. That is daunting to young people.

"The fear for young men is of being humiliated that they can't live up to that, plus the fear of exposure in your Facebook group."

The research also found that as young people get older they are less likely to have sexual partners, with more than 90pc of those who had lost their virginity having done so before 19-years-old. (© Daily Telegraph, London)

Irish Independent