New research on behalf of Instinctif Partners reveals some significant differences in the experiences that women aged 50 and over said they had as teenagers and what girls aged 13-16 in the United Kingdom experience now.

Girls now more likely to share personal sexually explicit material than women were as teenagers

Around 1 in 6 girls aged 13-16 (16%) said they had shared personal sexually explicit material about themselves with someone, whereas only 3% of women aged 50 and over said they had done so as a teenager. When asked whether they had shared personal sexually explicit material about someone else, girls (11%) were again more likely to say they have done so than women (2%) had as teenagers. When looking at differences based on ethnicity, BAME girls were more likely to have shared explicit material about themselves (22%) than white girls (14%), as well as more likely to share explicit material about someone else than white girls (15% vs. 10%).

Interestingly, when asked if they had gone further in a sexual relationship than they felt comfortable with, as many as 27% of women aged 50 and over said they had done so as a teenager with 16% of girls aged 13-16 saying they had done so. Four in five (79%) of women who had done so said they regret doing it, with figures for girls being similar (77%).

Girls express some regret at having missed out on real-life experiences due to time spent on social media

More than 4 in 10 (42%) girls aged 13-16 said they have missed out on real-life experiences due to the time spent on social media. When they were asked if they regret doing so as many as 57% said they regret it a little, while 28% said they regret it a lot. Only 14% did not regret it at all.

Girls aged 13-16 were more likely (15%) to say they had taken antidepressants because of the stress and anxiety they were facing than women aged 50 and over (8%) said they had done as teenagers. Slightly more BAME girls (19%) had done so than white girls (14%), whereas the difference between BAME and white women having taken antidepressants as a teenager was even larger (15% vs. 7% respectively).

Girls more likely than women to spend time with people from another race, culture or religion

The surveys also looked into whether girls and women do various activities with people from another race, culture and religion. Overall, the results below show that girls aged 13-16 are much more likely to do so than women aged 50 and over. Findings also show that both women and girls are significantly more likely to do various activities with people from another race, culture or religion than white women and girls. This being said, the differences between BAME and white girls is smaller than BAME and white women.

Survation polled 1266 girls aged 13-16 and 1259 women aged 50+ in the UK on behalf of Instinctif Partners. Fieldwork was conducted between 10th October – 19th December. Full data tables and methodology can be found here for girls aged 13-16 and here for women aged 50 and over.

To learn more about Survation’s polling capabilities or to commission a poll, contact Harry Mason or John Gibb on 020 3818 9661 or email researchteam@survation.com.

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