The Effect of Differential Susceptibility to Social Influence on Endorsement of College Hookup Culture

Abstract

College hookup culture is seen on nearly every college campus in the United States with many students partaking in the culture. Many college students feel pressured to hook up because they are misled by the belief that most of their peers are hooking up. For the present study, we examined the effects of a woman’s extent of susceptibility to social influence, college year, and relationship status on her perceptions of college hookup culture. To investigate this topic, 115 female undergraduate participants were gathered from a single-sex college who identified either as an underlevel or upperlevel student and as being single or in a relationship. Then, all participants took an online survey where they completed measures to assess participants’ susceptibility to social influence and perceptions about college hookup culture. Finally, participants were asked their relationship status, year in college, and degree of religiosity, the third of which was used as a covariate in analyses. Results found that participants with high susceptibility to social influence perceived hookup culture more favorably than students with low susceptibility. Furthermore, underlevel students did not perceive hookup culture differently from upperlevel students. Finally, it was found that participants in a relationship did not perceive hookup culture differently than single participants. Implications for the study’s results include the possible development of sexual educational programs to address perceptions about peers’ rates of hooking up versus reality in order to alleviate social pressures that those highly susceptible to influence might feel.