  We investigate the evolution of X-ray stellar activity from the age of the
youngest known star forming regions (SFR), < 1Myr, to about 100 Myr, i.e. the
zero age main sequence (ZAMS) for a ~ 1M_sun star. We consider five SFR of
varying age (Rho Ophiuchi, the Orion Nebula Cluster, NGC 2264, Chamaeleon I,
and Eta Chamaeleontis) and two young clusters (the Pleiades and NGC 2516).
Optical and X-ray data for these regions are retrieved both from archival
observations and recent literature, and reanalyzed here in a consistent manner
so to minimize systematic differences in the results. We study trends of L_X
and L_X/L_bol as a function of stellar mass and association age. For low mass
stars (M < 1M_sun) we observe an increase in L_X/L_bol in the first 3-4 Myr and
a subsequent leveling off at the saturation level (L_X/L_bol ~ -3). Slowly
evolving very low mass stars then retain saturated levels down to the oldest
ages here considered, while for higher mass stars activity begins to decline at
some age after ~10^7 years. We find our data consistent with the following
tentative picture: low mass PMS stars with no circumstellar accretion disk have
saturated activity, consistently with the activity-Rossby number relation
derived for MS stars. Accretion and/or the presence of disks somehow lowers the
observed activity levels; disk dissipation and/or the decrease of mass
accretion rate in the first few Myrs of PMS evolution is therefore responsible
for the observed increase of L_X/L_bol with time.
