User:Illuminato/hc3

Characteristics

Most research on hookups has been focused on American college students, but hookups are not limited to college campuses. Adolescents, emerging adults, men and women engage in hookups for a variety of reasons, which may range from instant physical gratification, to fulfillment of emotional needs, to using it as a means of finding a long-term romantic partner.

Adolescents

Some North American surveys have shown that upwards of 60% or 70% of sexually active teens reported having had uncommitted sex within the last year. This is more common among boys than girls. Among sexually experienced adolescents, 28% of boys and 16% of girls will lose their virginity to either someone they have just met, or to a friend who is not a dating partner.

Boys are more likely than girls have several hookup partners at the same time, and are also more likely to hookup with someone they are not dating. For both genders, hookups are more likely to be with an ex-boyfriend, an girlfriend or a friend than with an acquaintance. The majority of teens (68%) who hook up with a friend or an ex will hookup with them again.

About half of all hookups among adolescents were a one time affair, and this is the same for both boys and girls. Only 6% of teens have had sex with someone they just met, and these encounters are a one time affair 75% of the time.

Over all, 25% of those who had sexual experience with a dating partner have also hooked up with someone they were not dating. Additionally, 40% of those who had hooked up with someone they were not dating had also hooked up with a dating partner in the previous 12 months.

Mainline Protestants are the least likely to report having three or more sexual partners, while Black Protestants are the most likely. Teens who attend church infrequently or not at all are six times more likely to have 3 or more partners than those who do attend.

College

According to one study the vast majority, more than 90%, of American college students say their campus is characterized by a hookup culture, and students believe that about 85% of their classmates have hooked up. Studies show that most students (most recent data suggest between 60% and 80%) do have some sort of casual sex experience. Of those students who have hooked up, between 30% and 50% report that their hookups included sexual intercourse.

However, most students overestimate the amount of hookups in which their peers engage. Only 20% of students regularly hookup. Roughly one half will occasionally hookup, and one-third of students do not hook up at all. The median number of hookups for a graduating senior on a college campus is seven, and the typical college student acquires two new sexual partners during their college career. Half of all hookups are repeats, and 25% of students will graduate from college a virgin.

One study has found that the strongest predictor of hookup behavior was previous experience hooking up. Those who have engaged in hookups that involve penetrative sex are 600% more likely to hookup again during the same semester.

Subculture can affect gender roles and sexuality, and youth subcultures are particularly susceptible to peer pressure. Self esteem is also an indicator: men with high self-esteem and women with low self esteem are more likely to have multiple sexual partners, but hookups are less likely among both genders when they have high self-esteem. Most predictors among males and females rarely differ.

One third of gay and bisexual college men have met an anonymous sexual partner in a public place such as a park, bookstore, or restroom. Other venues such as public cruising areas, Internet cruising networks, and bathhouses are popular for gay men, but not for lesbians or heterosexual couples.

At colleges, hookups are common between students at parties, in dormitories and fraternity houses, at surrounding bars and clubs, and at popular student vacation destinations. For example, a study of Canadian college students who planned to hookup while on spring break showed that 61% of men and 34% of women had sex within a day of meeting their partner.

Relationships

In a hookup culture, students often have little experience with dating and developing romantic relationships. More than half of students surveyed say they would like a hookup to develop into a romantic relationship, nearly half have tried discussing the possibility of a romantic relationship with a hookup partner, and more than half of college relationships begin with a hookup.

Sex researcher Justin Garcia says that hookup culture can initially lead to a lower incidence of dating among youth, but as people get a bit older they outgrow their desire for hookups and settle into traditional dating. Freitas states that hookup culture may lead students to "become hardened about sex, dropping all those needs and hopes they may have had about its potential romantic dimensions."

Lisa Wade, on the other hand, says that college students are merely engaging in a different form of courtship that often results in monogamous relationships. This view is echoed by Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton, and Paula England, who state that college students have not abandoned dating. According to studies, a majority of students express that they would like to be in a committed relationship and prefer dating to hooking up.

Alcohol

Some studies have made a connection between hookup culture and substance use. A majority of students said that their hookups occurred after drinking alcohol. Students who reported using marijuana or cocaine in the past year were also more likely than their peers to have hooked up during that period. Studies have generally shown that greater alcohol use is associated with more sexual activity in the course of a hookup.

About a third of the students who reported engaging in vaginal, anal, or oral sex during a hookup reported being very intoxicated and another third reported being mildly intoxicated. Alcohol can act as a cue regarding sexual availability, as a disinhibitor, and as a rationalization for uncharacteristic behavior. Studies suggest that the degree of alcoholic intoxication directly correlates with the level of risky behavior.

Works cited

• Regnerus, Mark (2007). Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195320947.