Hook-Up Culture: Setting a New Research Agenda

Abstract

Summarizing the major findings of literature on hook-up culture, we propose a new research agenda focusing on when and why this sexual subculture emerged. We explore a series of hypotheses to explain this sexual paradigm shift, including college and university policies, the gender distribution of students, changes in the nature of alcohol use, access to and consumption of pornography, the increased sexual content of non-pornographic media, rising self-objectification and narcissism, new marriage norms, and perceptions of sexual risk. We then recommend new directions for research, emphasizing the need to explore structural and psychological as well as cultural factors, the role of discrete events alongside slowly emerging social change, the need for intersectional research and studies of non-college-attending and post-college youth, and the benefits of longitudinal and cross-college designs.

Casual Sex: Integrating Social, Behavioral, and Sexual Health Research

“…In addition to the mental health impact, commonly cited adverse effects include unintended/ unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and sexual victimization (Claxton and van Dulmen 2013;Heldman and Wade 2010;Vasilenko et al 2012). For those who have casual sex, in addition to potentially experiencing an adverse health effect, there is the added burden of worrying about these negative health effects.…”

“…Unwanted sexual contact can and does occur within uncommitted sexual encounters Heldman and Wade 2010), including hook-ups, booty-calls, one-night stands, and friends-with-benefits relationships (Klipfel et al 2014). Unwanted sexual contact moves beyond vaginal, anal, and genital-oral contact to also include fondling or touching of the breasts or genitals (Crown and Roberts 2007;Flack et al 2007) and exists along a continuum from not desired to unwanted and coerced to forcible sexual contact and rape (Flack et al 2007).…”

“…The literature has now become voluminous, with different research streams-and different theoretical and methodological traditions-covering various facets of casual sex, ranging from people's attitudes toward behaviors, from onenight stands to friends-with-benefits, and from heterosexual college campus samples to samples of urban men who have sex with men (MSM). This work has been done by a surprisingly wide variety of scholars and scientists, and several recent reviews have attempted to synthesize various aspects of this literature (e.g., Garcia et al 2012;Hatfield et al 2012;Heldman and Wade 2010). In the current chapter we try to avoid regurgitation of existing reviews, but rather to connect-the-dots between seemingly disparate aspects of this work to help guide current and future research on the topic of casual sex while incorporating sexual health.…”

Male Role Norm Endorsement and Sexism Predict Heterosexual College Men’s Attitudes Toward Casual Sex, Intoxicated Sexual Contact, and Casual Sex

“…In fact, some reports indicate that more than 30 % of undergraduates have engaged in sexual intercourse with a stranger or brief acquaintance, with men reporting this more than women (47.5 vs. 33.3 %, respectively; Paul et al 2000). Although not every casual sex encounter leads to negative outcomes (Armstrong et al 2010), casual sex has been linked with unpleasant or coercive sex (Armstrong et al 2010;Flack et al 2007;Heldman and Wade 2010;Littleton et al 2009), infrequent condom use (Tanfer et al 1995), emotional distress (Heldman and Wade 2010), and lack of sexual partner communication (Paul 2006). Due to its prevalence and links with negative outcomes, it is important to discover factors that may predict casual sex.…”

Dating and Hooking Up in College: Meeting Contexts, Sex, and Variation by Gender, Partner's Gender, and Class Standing

“…The ''hookup'' has been described as increasingly common on college campuses (Heldman & Wade, 2010;Garcia, Reiber, Massey, & Merriwether, 2012). A hookup is a casual, noncommittal encounter of a sexual nature between two individuals, which may or may not include sex (Bogle, 2008;Flack et al, 2007).…”