Hook Ups Research Articles

Talking Through Race: Two Raced Women’s Tinder Stories

Abstract While as an epitome of contemporary pairing culture Tinder has been reported as dangerous for its association with sex-centered post-feminist culture, including hook ups and toxic masculinity, an original case study exploring women of color (WOC) in the culture has not been undertaken yet. By inviting WOC Tinder users into an ethnographic study, I show the instability of race that mediates their lived experiences in line with gender in the culture of sexual intimacy. I focus on two female study participants living in the United States: Greek–Black biracial Betty and Korean-Asian Rose. By examining their processes of revisiting their Tinder episodes and developing their conclusive stories vis-à-vis their identities, I argue that they perform their race processed through ongoing negotiation with the social systems and their personal lived experiences, to respond to racialization, gendering, and sexualization in the pairing culture, mediated by the image-centered dating app, Tinder.

Gender, Sexual Agency, and Friends with Benefits Relationships

Recent trends suggest that friends with benefits (FWB) relationships are prevalent among emerging adults on college campuses. Notably, young women are just as likely to participate in these relationships as young men, a finding that differentiates FWBs from heterosexual hook ups, where women traditionally report less participation. As such, it has been suggested that friends with benefits relationships may provide young women an avenue to explore and achieve sexual agency. Yet, whether emerging adults actually perceive friends with benefits relationships as affording women sexual agency has not been explored explicitly. In this study, we focus on female sexual agency and examine whether college women and men perceive FWB relationships as a means of expressing women’s sexual agency. Based on focus group discussions with 71 women and 35 men at a large public university, this study explores the myriad ways that students make sense of FWB relationships. Focus group discussions focused on the themes of empowerment, control, and safety in FWB relationships; we examine these themes in order to provide a nuanced analysis of FWB relationships as an increasingly widespread sexual behavior among young people on college campuses.

Expected, ideal, and actual relational outcomes of emerging adults' “hook ups”

AbstractDespite the prevalence of “hooking up” among emerging adults, little is known about the outcomes of these encounters. A sample of 348 college students completed a survey on expected, ideal, and actual relational outcomes of hook ups (assessed at a 10‐week follow‐up). Results showed that most men and women expected outcomes involving minimal commitment (i.e., nothing more, continued sexual involvement). Ideal outcomes of hook ups differed by gender, with women more often hoping for romantic involvement, and men more likely to view continued sexual involvement as ideal. Actual outcomes varied, with continued sexual involvement the most common outcome (32.2%), followed by friendship (27.7%), romantic involvement (23.2%), and nothing more (17%); 43.8% of participants experienced fulfillment of ideal outcomes.

Sexual assault incidents among college undergraduates: Prevalence and factors associated with risk.

Sexual assault on college campuses is a public health issue. However varying research methodologies (e.g., different sexual assault definitions, measures, assessment timeframes) and low response rates hamper efforts to define the scope of the problem. To illuminate the complexity of campus sexual assault, we collected survey data from a large population-based random sample of undergraduate students from Columbia University and Barnard College in New York City, using evidence based methods to maximize response rates and sample representativeness, and behaviorally specific measures of sexual assault to accurately capture victimization rates. This paper focuses on student experiences of different types of sexual assault victimization, as well as sociodemographic, social, and risk environment correlates. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and logistic regression were used to estimate prevalences and test associations. Since college entry, 22% of students reported experiencing at least one incident of sexual assault (defined as sexualized touching, attempted penetration [oral, anal, vaginal, other], or completed penetration). Women and gender nonconforming students reported the highest rates (28% and 38%, respectively), although men also reported sexual assault (12.5%). Across types of assault and gender groups, incapacitation due to alcohol and drug use and/or other factors was the perpetration method reported most frequently (> 50%); physical force (particularly for completed penetration in women) and verbal coercion were also commonly reported. Factors associated with increased risk for sexual assault included non-heterosexual identity, difficulty paying for basic necessities, fraternity/sorority membership, participation in more casual sexual encounters (“hook ups”) vs. exclusive/monogamous or no sexual relationships, binge drinking, and experiencing sexual assault before college. High rates of re-victimization during college were reported across gender groups. Our study is consistent with prevalence findings previously reported. Variation in types of assault and methods of perpetration experienced across gender groups highlight the need to develop prevention strategies tailored to specific risk groups.

The Use of Mobile Health Applications Among Youth and Young Adults Living with HIV: Focus Group Findings

The objective of this study was to conduct focus groups with youth (18-29 years old) living with HIV (YLWH) to better understand preferences for mobile applications in general and to inform the design of a mobile health application aimed at improving retention and engagement in healthcare and adherence to antiretroviral therapy. We conducted four focus groups with YLWH to elicit the names and characteristics of applications that they commonly used, reasons they deleted applications, and the features of an ideal mobile health application. A diverse sample of youth (N = 17) with a mean age of 25 years, 88.2% male, and 29.4% African American participated in four focus groups. Positive attributes of applications included informative, simple, allowing for networking, timely updates, little overlap with other applications, unlimited access to entertainment, and with ongoing advancement. Participants identified several reasons for deleting applications, including engaging in excessive behaviors (e.g., spending money), for hook ups only, too many notifications or restrictions, occupied too much space on device, or required wireless connectivity or frequent updates. Participants suggested that a mobile health application that they would find useful should have the ability to connect to a community of other YLWH, readily access healthcare providers, track personal data and information (such as laboratory data), and obtain health news and education. Privacy was a key factor in a mobile health application for all participants. Researchers can use the information provided by focus group participants in creating mobile health applications for YLWH.

Aggressive Hook Ups: Modeling Aggressive Casual Sex on BDSM for Moral Permissibility

Aggressive techniques within casual sex encounters, such as taking sexual liberties without permission or ignoring rejection, can, perhaps unintentionally, complicate consent. Passive recipients may acquiesce out of fear, which aggressors may not realize. Some philosophers argue that social norms are sufficiently well known to make this misunderstanding unlikely. However, the chance of aggression leading to non-consensual sex, even if not great, is high enough that aggressors should work diligently to avoid this potentially grave result. I consider how this problem plays out in the common mating ritual of hooking up. I argue that aggressive hook ups can only be permissible if they are modeled on BDSM encounters: the participants must obtain prior consent and prepare safe words for voiding that consent during the hook up. While this solution removes the spontaneity of aggressive sex, I argue that spontaneously aggressive hook ups with strangers cannot be permissible.

Hooking up during the college years: is there a pattern?

Hook ups are sexual encounters that can include a variety of behaviours (e.g., kissing to intercourse) with no expectation of future contact or a committed relationship. Although hooking up is reported to be common on college campuses across the USA, little is known about whether the frequency of hooking up changes over the course of the college experience. Using cross-sectional data and the covariates alcohol use, gender and relationship status, we examined a synthetic cohort of undergraduate students (n = 1003) on rates of hooking up using (1) logistic regression and (2) an applied form of survival analysis. Whereas both analytic techniques produced similar results, survival analysis provided a more complete picture by showing an increase in the rate of hooking up that peaked between spring semester of the first year of college and autumn semester of the second year of college, followed by a gradual decline in hook up rates over subsequent semesters. Findings indicate that gender is significantly related to hooking up in the logistic regression analysis, with women reporting fewer hook ups; however, gender was not significantly related to hooking up in the survival analysis, indicating that there are no differences in the pattern across cohorts. Implications for promoting the sexual health of college students and future research are discussed.

The influence of pornography on sexual scripts and hooking up among emerging adults in college.

The explosive growth in access to the Internet has led to a commensurate increase in the availability, anonymity, and affordability of pornography. An emerging body of research has shown associations between pornography and certain behaviors and attitudes; yet, how pornography actually influences these outcomes has not been documented. In two studies (Study 1N=969; Study 2N=992) we examined the hypothesis that pornography influences potentially risky sexual behavior (hooking up) among emerging adults via sexual scripts. Our results demonstrate that more frequent viewing of pornography is associated with a higher incidence of hooking up and a higher number of unique hook up partners. We replicated these effects both cross-sectionally and longitudinally while accounting for the stability of hook ups over the course of an academic semester. We also demonstrated that more frequent viewing of pornography is associated with having had more previous sexual partners of all types, more one occasion sexual partners ("one night stands"), and plans to have a higher number of sexual partners in the future. Finally, we provided evidence that more permissive sexual scripts mediated the association between more frequent pornography viewing and hooking up. We discuss these findings with an eye toward mitigating potential personal and public health risks among emerging adults.

Acceptability of Smartphone Application-Based HIV Prevention Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men

Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are increasingly using mobile smartphone applications ("apps"), such as Grindr, to meet sex partners. A probability sample of 195 Grindr-using YMSM in Southern California were administered an anonymous online survey to assess patterns of and motivations for Grindr use in order to inform development and tailoring of smartphone-based HIV prevention for YMSM. The number one reason for using Grindr (29%) was to meet "hook ups." Among those participants who used both Grindr and online dating sites, a statistically significantly greater percentage used online dating sites for "hook ups" (42%) compared to Grindr (30%). Seventy percent of YMSM expressed a willingness to participate in a smartphone app-based HIV prevention program. Development and testing of smartphone apps for HIV prevention delivery has the potential to engage YMSM in HIV prevention programming, which can be tailored based on use patterns and motivations for use.

A double standard for “Hooking Up”: How far have we come toward gender equality?

While sexual attitudes have liberalized in the past half century, research is mixed as to whether attitudes have become less gendered over time. Recent studies on college students’ sexual and romantic relationships suggest that a sexual double standard continues to organize sexuality on many campuses. Data from the Online College Social Life Survey shed light on students’ evaluation of casual sex, or “hooking up.” In addition to exploring gendered attitudinal patterns, we use gender structure theory to explore how individual characteristics and normative expectations of campus group affiliations shape attitudes. While three quarters of students do not hold different standards for men and women’s hooking up, attitudes are more conservative than liberal, with almost half of students losing respect for men and women who hook up “a lot.” However, men are more likely to hold a traditional double standard, while women are more likely to espouse egalitarian conservative attitudes. Individual characteristics, including age, religion, race, social class and sexual orientation are frequently related to sexual attitudes, as are number of hook ups, fraternity/sorority affiliation and varsity athletic participation.

Short-Term Prospective Study of Hooking Up Among College Students

Hook ups are casual sexual encounters (ranging from kissing to intercourse) between two people with no clear mutual expectation of further interactions or a committed relationship. This study utilized a short-term prospective design to examine predictors of hooking up in a sample of young adults (N=394). Hooking up over the past year, positive reactions to prior hook ups, alcohol use, and loneliness were associated with hooking up over a 4-month period. Alcohol use was a stronger predictor for women than men. Thoughtfulness about relationship transitions and religiosity were significant predictors of hooking up in univariate analyses, but were not significant in multivariate analyses. Young adults who reported more depressive symptoms and feelings of loneliness at Time 1 and subsequently engaged in penetrative hook ups reported fewer depressive symptoms and lower feelings of loneliness at Time 2 as compared to young adults who did not hook up. However, young adults who reported fewer depressive symptoms and were less lonely at Time 1 and engaged in penetrative hook ups over the 4month period reported more depressive symptoms and greater feelings of loneliness at Time 2 as compared to young adults who did not hook up. Implications for relationship education programs are offered.

Young Adults’ Emotional Reactions After Hooking Up Encounters

Hooking up, or a sexual encounter ranging from kissing to intercourse that occurs on one occasion and where the partners do not necessarily expect future physical encounters or a committed relationship, has become commonplace among college students. This study (N = 500) examined gender differences in emotional reactions after hooking up and explored the relationship between specific processes in the hooking up encounter and reactions to hooking up. Compared to women, men reported more positive and fewer negative emotional reactions; however, both men and women reported that the experience was largely more positive than negative. Coital hook ups were associated with fewer negative emotional responses for men as compared to women who engaged in coital and non-coital hook ups and to men who engaged in non-coital hook ups. For those who engaged in coital hook ups, women reported that condom use was associated with fewer positive and more negative emotional reactions whereas condom use was related to fewer negative emotion reactions for men. Negative emotional reactions were also related to reports of depressive symptoms and feelings of loneliness; however, feelings of loneliness were not related to negative emotional reactions after accounting for young adults' positive emotional reactions. Positive emotional reactions were related to hope for and discussion of a committed relationship. Implications for relationship education and future research are outlined.

Teaching Sociology of the Family from a Catholic Perspective

In today’s post-marriage culture, young people can benefit from the Church’s teachings on marriage and the family. In this paper, I discuss how to teach a college-level sociology of the family from a Catholic perspective. Cynical attitudes toward marriage and their behavioral outcomes (i.e., “hook ups” or short, sexual liaisons) make teaching challenging. However, students still express a desire for longterm, happy marriages and want to hear a hopeful message about marriage. The benefits of drawing on current theological and social scientific research while still adhering to magisterial teaching on the family is emphasized. The state of the family has been a central focus of the