"Hookups": Characteristics and Correlates of College Students' Spontaneous and Anonymous Sexual Experiences - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2000 by Elizabeth L. Paul, Brian McManus, Allison Hayes

Adolescents' and young adults' sexual attitudes and behaviors have been the focus of a flurry of research in the past decade, as the threat of HIV/AIDS for these groups has increased dramatically (e.g., Gardner & Wilcox, 1993; Gunn & Furstenberg, 1989). Of great concern are the high-risk behaviors engaged in by many adolescents and young adults (e.g., unprotected sex, large numbers of sex partners, judgment-inhibiting alcohol consumption) (Desiderato & Crawford, 1995). Moreover, the incidence of high-risk sexual practices seems to be on the rise (Maticka-Tyndale, 1991), especially on college campuses where norms of sexual permissiveness and multiple partners are influential (Chng & Moore, 1994). Placing these behaviors in the context of adolescents' and young adults' normative developmental preoccupation with sexual exploration and experimentation (Paul & White, 1990) highlights the complexity of their sexual risk-taking, challenging research and the development of prevention and intervention applications.

This study focuses on a specific risky practice common among contemporary college students: the hookup. Hookup is defined herein as a sexual encounter, usually lasting only one night, between two people who are strangers or brief acquaintances. Some physical sexual interaction is typical, but it may or may not include sexual intercourse. Such sexual experiences are usually spontaneous (i.e., something that "just happens"); alternately, the goal of hooking up is planned but the target of the hookup or the individual with whom the hookup occurs is unknown (see Rodberg, 1999, for a college student's corroboration of the definition of a hookup). In addition, hookups are usually anonymous in that the partners are strangers or only brief acquaintances and rarely continue to build a relationship, let alone see each other again.

This study focuses specifically on college culture in which hookups have become a prominent feature (Rodberg, 1999) and traditional-aged college students whose developmental preoccupations with autonomy and sexual interest and experimentation dovetail with such college cultural norms (Paul & White, 1990). In an effort to more accurately reflect the variations in sexual behaviors that are experienced during hookups, a unique contribution of the present study is the discrimination between coital and noncoital hookup experiences. This study addressed two main questions:

   (1) What social and psychological characteristics differentiate college
   students who engage in hookups from those who don't?

   (2) What characteristics distinguish individuals who have experienced
   hookups with sexual intercourse from those who have experienced noncoital
   hookups?

Casual Sex

An important focus of research on adolescents and young adults is sexual intercourse without commitment or emotional involvement, often referred to as casual sex (e.g., Winslow, Franzini, & Hwang, 1992). Casual sex is the category of sexual behavior into which hookups most closely fit. In most research, attitudes toward casual sex have been examined (e.g., Leigh, Aramburu, & Norris, 1992; Lottes, 1993). In fewer studies, the researchers have examined actual casual sexual behavior among young adults (e.g., Feeney, Noller, & Patty, 1993).

Casual sex often has not been explicitly defined in research literature. When casual sex was explicitly defined, it was operationalized in a variety of ways. Some researchers focused on the "one-night stand," wherein sexual intercourse occurred on one and only one occasion. Sometimes the prior or later relationship between the two individuals was irrelevant (e.g., Simpson & Gangestad, 1991); sometimes it was specified that sexual intercourse occurred during a first meeting and that the relationship may or may not continue (e.g., Edgar & Fitzpatrick, 1993). Other researchers used very inclusive operationalizations of casual sex, including scenarios ranging from occasional sex with a partner with whom there was no strong emotional involvement to spontaneous sex with a partner with whom the individual had barely talked before sex (e.g., Winslow et al., 1992).

The common denominator in most studies of casual sex attitudes and behaviors is sexual intercourse in an uncommitted partnership. Whereas sexual intercourse is arguably riskier than many noncoital sexual acts (e.g., risks of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.), encompassing a broader range of noncoital sexual behaviors in operationalizations of casual sex may more accurately reflect the variety of adolescents' and young adults' casual sexual experiences. In research on sociosexuality, Wright and Reise (1997) made a similar argument in their expansion of the operationalization of promiscuous sexual behavior to include noncoital sexual behaviors in addition to sexual intercourse. It is important to take this one step further, however, to differentiate between individuals who engage in noncoital versus coital casual partnerships, given the different degrees of potential risk involved. It is possible that different predictors underlie these two different forms of sexual experience. For example, individuals who experience sexual intercourse in the context of hookups may be motivated by different psychological (e.g., harm-approach, impulsiveness) and social (high levels of alcohol use) factors than individuals who experience noncoital sexual behaviors in hookups.