KIDS THESE DAYS: Today’s US teens about three years behind ’70s generation when it comes to sex, alcohol and getting jobs.

The findings in the journal Child Development were based on an analysis of seven large, nationally representative surveys of 8.3 million teenagers between 1976 and 2016.

The surveys sought to find out how those aged 13 to 19 spent their time, and how often they engaged in adult activities such as drinking alcohol, dating, taking jobs, driving, or having sex, said the report.

What researchers found was a ‘broad-based cultural shift,’ said the study.

Adolescents in the 2010s ‘are less likely to work for pay, drive, date, drink alcohol, go out without their parents, and have sex than adolescents in previous decades,’ it said.

These changes were apparent across the nation, and regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic lines.

‘The developmental trajectory of adolescence has slowed, with teens growing up more slowly than they used to,’ said lead author Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University.

‘In terms of adult activities, 18-year-olds now look like 15-year-olds once did.’

It’s one thing to skip the youthful sex and drinking for ambitious kids taking on the world at work. Or to slack off for a few years sowing some wild oats. But missing out on gainful employment, sex, and alcohol is just sad.