Hook Up Culture: Changing the Structure of Future Relationships?

Hook up culture is a relatively new phenomenon that is reported to be occurring rampantly on college campuses across the nation. Research tends to focus on the negative implications of hook up culture and the impact it has on college students’ well-being. There is limited research exploring if hook up behavior in college is influencing relationship structure in later life, as would be demonstrated by individuals engaging in consensual non-monogamy practices. The present study examined college students’ relationship practices to assess if their current relationship status and relationship practices in the past year align with their ideal, future relationship. Results indicate that the overwhelming majority of participants ideally want to become monogamously partnered in the future, regardless of their current relationship practices. Overall these findings indicate that hook up behavior in college is an experiential stage that does not sway college students’ ideal relationship preferences. HOOKING UP AND FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS 5 Hook Up Culture: Changing the Structure of Future Relationships? In the past decade, the empirical literature has recognized a new phenomenon on college campuses across the nation referred to as hook up culture. There is a large amount of variance in how academia defines hooking up. Hook ups are broadly described as sexual relations that occur outside of a committed or romantic relationship (Fielder, Walsh, Carey, & Carey, 2014). Hook ups can involve a wide array of behaviors, ranging from kissing to penetrative sex, between partners who are not dating or involved in a romantic relationship. These types of noncommittal sexual interactions do not imply an impending romantic commitment as the motivation for the hook up is understood to be merely for sexual satisfaction. From a review of the scientific literature regarding sexual hook up culture, data suggest that between 60% and 80% of college students in North America have had some type of previous hook up experience (Garcia, Reiber, Massey, & Merriwether, 2012). Although the hook up phenomenon has just recently begun to be discussed in the academic literature, there is evidence to suggest this type of culture was established long before it was recognized in the scientific literature (Bogle, 2007). Monto and Carey (2014) analyzed two national samples, 1988-1996 and 2004-2012, of individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 who had completed, at minimum, one year of college. They found that respondents from 2004-2012, the generation to which hookup culture has often been applied, did not report more total sexual partners, more partners during the past year, or more frequent sex than respondents from 1988-1996. However, respondents from the more recent sampling were more likely than the pre-millennium respondents to report sexual activity with a casual date, pickup, or friend and less likely to report engaging in HOOKING UP AND FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS 6 sexual activity with a spouse or regular partner. These findings suggest that sexual behavior among college students have not dramatically changed over the past three decades, but the change in interpretation of these behaviors may be the result of a change in labeling. Prior to the millennium, engaging in casual sex with an individual could result in that person being considered a boyfriend/girlfriend. In more recent times, the boyfriend/girlfriend label is only used when the relationship status has been made official through some means, other than solely engaging in casual sex. These changes in labeling may be an integral influence in the new age phenomenon of hook up culture. Research often aims to understand the nature of college students’ casual sexual relationships with other health-related variables. Grello, Welsh, and Harper (2006) investigated how hooking up was related to well-being in college students. Their findings suggest that casual sex, as opposed to sex within a romantic relationship, is associated with symptoms of depression in women. From the college students that reported a history of engaging in casual sex, women reported the most depressive symptoms whereas men reported the fewest depressive symptoms in the sample. Engaging in casual sex was also associated with other risk behaviors including drug and alcohol use. Other research utilizing a sample of first year college women found that sexual hook up behavior was positively correlated with experiencing depression, sexual victimization, and contracting sexually transmitted infections, but that engaging in hook ups did not predict future depression (Fielder et al., 2014). Some of the research in this area sheds a negative light on hook up culture and focuses on the risk involved in casual sex and having multiple sexual partners. HOOKING UP AND FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS 7 There is a plethora of research available that explores the differences between men and women engaging in hook up behavior. Shukusky and Wade (2012) found that men were more satisfied with and more in agreement with hook up behavior than women. Lambert, Kahn, and Apple (2003) surveyed men and women on a college campus and also found that men expressed more comfort than women in engaging in hook ups. The researchers also found that both sexes rated their peers as being more comfortable with engaging in casual sex than they rated themselves, and both sexes overestimated the other gender’s comfort with hook up behavior suggesting a discrepancy in college students’ understanding of their peer’s casual sex behaviors. Townsend and Wasserman (2011) examined sex differences in emotional reactions to sexual hook ups among college students. Findings suggest that for women, a greater number of sexual partners was associated with increased worry and vulnerability. For men, this trend was opposite. For both men and women, greater permissiveness of sexual attitudes was positively correlated with number of sex partners. The greater the number of sex partners also resulted in decreased thoughts about marriage in both sexes. Findings also suggest for both men and women that a greater number of sexual partners was associated with more one night stands, partners predicted in the next five years, and deliberate casual sex, although this trend was significantly stronger for men than women. Another important component in thoroughly understanding the behaviors involved in engaging in casual sex is the motivations that propel individuals to take part in this type of behavior. Garcia and Reiber (2008) investigated the prevalence of, and motivations for, hook up behavior in college undergraduate students. Of their 507 undergraduate participants, 64% reported having previously engaged in a hook up at HOOKING UP AND FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS 8 some point in the past. When asked about what motivated their hook up, 89% of participants identified physical pleasure as a motivation and 51% did so with the intention of initiating a traditional romantic relationship (defined as a monogamous, committed relationship). The 51% of participants seeking a traditional romantic relationship was equally distributed among men and women. When surveyed, almost all of the participants (>99%) indicated that they would ideally like to be in a traditional romantic relationship at some point in their life. Only two participants (<1%) said they did not desire to be in a traditional romantic relationship at any point in their life. These finding suggest that regardless of current sexual behavior, college students ideally want a traditional, monogamous relationship in the future. The hook up culture described among college campuses draws many comparisons with consensual non-monogamy practices. Consensual non-monogamy encompasses a relationship arrangement in which all involved partners consent to engaging in sexual and/or romantic relationships with other people (Rubin, Moors, Matsick, Ziegler, & Conley, 2014). Among these relationship arrangements is polyamory, which is structured around multiple, loving relationships (Matsick, Conley, Ziegler, Moors, & Rubin, 2014). Rubel and Bogaert (2014) explored the psychological well-being of those who practice consensual non-monogamy. When comparing individuals who practice consensual nonmonogamy to those who practice monogamy, research suggests the groups do not differ on many significant psychological characteristics including life satisfaction, depression, personal fulfillment, and mood stability. This suggests that engaging in relationship practices different than monogamy is not predictive of other psychological and wellbeing outcomes. HOOKING UP AND FUTURE RELATIONSHIPS 9 Although there is an abundant amount of research surrounding the many facets of hook up culture, there is limited research regarding polyamory and other consensual nonmonogamies. Barker and Langdridge (2010) conducted a review of the current nonmonogamy research available and found that the existent literature could be categorized into one of two groups, celebratory or critical. Their findings suggest the polarization of the current literature as having a positive or negative position on consensual nonmonogamies perpetuates the dichotomization of non-monogamous relationships as being inherently bad or good. The authors suggest rather than celebrating or criticizing these types of relationships, research is needed to bring more awareness to the different consensual non-monogamous practices while presenting the findings in a scientific manner opposed to dichotomizing, and in some cases pathologizing, this lifestyle. Aguilar (2013) explored the idea of situational sexual behaviors specific to polyamory in communal living groups. The author studied two communal living groups where members often practiced polyamory. Interestingly, participants transitioned from monogamous to polyamorous relationships suggesting that situations and circumstances can strongly influence an individual’s sexual behavior. With that, the f