It’s what I’ve been trying to tell guys for years: sex is better when you’re mature. A recent study from the University of Alberta shows mature university students benefit from sex while their immature counterparts just feel crappy about themselves. The study was conducted by doctoral student Andrea Dalton and her supervisor Nancy Galambos with a group of first-year college students over an eight month period. Those who were “on track” in their emotional maturity associated positive feelings with sex. Anyone not on track, or emotionally immature, had negative feelings about sexual experiences.

Contrary to what you might think, moving out of your parents’ house did not necessarily correlate with maturity. In fact, many students who were not living at home had negative sexual experiences-Dalton suggests this is because they cope with the stress of moving out through crazy sex (well, she just calls it “sexual intimacy”). So go ahead, bone that guy in his parents’ basement-as long as you too are mature, it should be some pretty good sex.

The study emphasizes that sex should not be used as a litmus test for whether someone is mature or not. Ah, college, perhaps the one time in your life when you’re so surrounded by potential lays that you could actually say to yourself, “Am I mature? Maybe I should have sex with that guy over there and find out.”

Of course, if you have to ask yourself. . .better stick to BJs. According to Dalton, the above applies to penetrative sex only. Students engaging in oral sex did not show the same correlation. Which is great, because then you can just say, “Oh honey, I’m sorry, I’m not mature enough for sex and it will make me feel horrible, but you can still go down on me!”

Photo by LeatherChrissy.