Europe 1 / Photo credit: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP 2:00 p.m., February 12, 2024

As Valentine's Day approaches, Europe 1 asked the question of the shyness of young people in romantic encounters. And the observation is clear: 18-24 year olds seem on average more inhibited than Generation Y, but also more stressed at the time of first dates, according to an Ifop survey in partnership with Tinder.

Generation Z, shy generation? Recently, the media massively relayed the study revealing the decline in sexual activity among young French people with the lowest rate of sexual intercourse recorded in 50 years. They point in particular to the omnipresence of screens or the evolution of the relationship with consent as responsible. And the question of the shyness of 18-24 year olds arises and imposes itself. According to a Canadian study, published in

Psychological Science

in 2023, people born between 1997 and 2010 are more shy than their elders. 

"The changing social context due to technological innovations may have led to fewer face-to-face social interactions, and fewer opportunities to develop social skills, by interacting with other people. In turn , this may have resulted in a learned and contextual avoidance of physical interactions, leading to the isolation, inhibition, and worry that characterize shyness", summarizes one of the authors of the study, from the

PsyPost

website

.

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74% of young people surveyed “stressed” by a first date

A shyness which is inevitably found during the first romantic dates. According to an Ifop survey, carried out in partnership with Tinder, 74% of young people aged 18-24 are stressed before a first "date", including 41% systematically. A higher rate among women and people using dating apps, investigators note. The result was obtained thanks to an online questionnaire in December 2023, among 1,002 young people aged 18 to 24, representative of the French population under 25 living in mainland France.

In detail, young people are particularly worried about how others see them: 91% of young people questioned say they are "stressed" by not being liked, a rate which rises to 95% among women, compared to 86% among men. men. The “perfect woman” syndrome? Other fears are widely mentioned, such as the more general fear of meeting a new person, or of showing signs of apprehension: sweating, sweaty hands or bad breath. So many factors that risk scaring single people from proposing a date on Valentine's Day.