Changes in the sexual behaviour of young people: introduction

If the sexual revolution of the 1960s unveiled changes in the sexual behaviour of young people that had silently begun in the previous decades, recent years have seen new and relevant changes, spurred by social media and the web propagating easy-going lifestyles, even in countries where such transformation proceeds at a slower pace. Today’s young people are the grandchildren of men and women born in the 1940s and 1950s, who were the main actors in the sexual revolution. They are the “heirs of the sexual revolution” growing up in a more liberal and permissive family environment compared to their parents and grandparents.