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There has been "an explosion in interest" in the academic literature and popular media in recent years on the topic of hookups.[1][2]

The ambiguous nature of the term can create difficulties for researchers.[2]

Of all 7th to 12th graders, 28% reported having a hookup.[2]

Students tend to overestimate their peers' comfort level with hookups.[3][2]

Men are more likely to say they hookup in order to gain increased status and popularity, while women hope that a hookup might develop into a more traditional romantic relationship.[2] Men also tend to report more pleasure and less guilt and regret from their hookups.[2]

Securely attached individuals report fewer hookups.[2]

While a number of studies have found negative effects of hookups, "very little is known about the potential positive implications."[2] However, men tend to have more positive and fewer negative reactions that women.[2] The most positive hookups involve an attractive partner and a physically pleasurable experience.[2] Positive reactions to a hookup include sexual satisfaction and the hope that peers would hear about the hookup so that their public esteem would thus rise.[2]


Some students dispute that peer pressure plays a part in hookup culture,[4] but a belief that everyone else is hooking up is one of three consistent predictors of a future hookup along with intoxication and prior hookup experience.[2]

Personality traits that have been linked to a greater propensity to hook up include neuroticism, extroversion, impulsivity, sensation seeking, narcissism, and psychopathy.[2] Traits that predict less casual sex include agreeableness and conscientiousness.[2] Hedonistic individuals are also more likely to have causal sex.[2] Greater religiosity and more frequent attendance at church reduces the likelihood of hooking up for adult women[2] and all adolescents.[5]

Some studies have made a connection between the hookup culture and substance use.[6][2][7]

Studies have generally shown that greater alcohol use is associated with more sexual activity in the course of a hookup,[6][8] as well as higher numbers of sexual partners and risky sexual experiences.[2]

Alcohol use is also associated with feeling regret after a hookup.[2]

One review of studies has found that hookup culture "has taken root within the sociocultural milieu of adolescents, emerging adults, and men and women throughout the Western world."[1]

"These developmental shifts, research suggests, are some of the factors driving the increase in sexual 'hookups,' or uncommitted sexual encounters, part of a popular cultural change that has infiltrated the lives of emerging adults throughout the Western world."[6] Hookups are becoming increasingly normative among young adults and adolescents in North America and have taken root throughout the Western world, which represents a notable shift in how casual sex is perceived and accepted.[1]

Dating, while it has not disappeared, has decreased as hookups have become more common.[1]

"The past decade has witnessed an explosion in interest in the topic of hookups, both scientifically and in the popular media. Research on hookups is not seated within a singular disciplinary sphere; it sits at the crossroads of theoretical and empirical ideas drawn from a diverse range of fields, including psychology, anthropology, sociology, biology, medicine, and public health."[1]

Many observers consider this shift to be a "profound shift in the culture of high school dating and sex."[1][9][10]


Research on hookups has been focused on American college students, but studies show that upwards of 60% or 70% of sexually active teens in some North American surveys reported having had uncommitted sex within the last year.[1][11][12][13]

One study has found that in American colleges, 67% of hookups occur at parties, 57% at dormitories or fraternity houses, 10% at bars and clubs, 4% in cars, and 35% at any unspecified available place.[1] 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.[1]

Greater religiosity is related to a lower incidence of intercourse during a hookup, however.[1]

Studies show that most students (most recent data suggest between 60% and 80%) do have some sort of casual sex experience.[6][1]

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.[1] Other venues including public cruising areas, Internet cruising networks, and bathhouses are popular for gay men, but not for lesbians or heterosexual couples.[1]

The "irony of hookup culture" is that students continue to have sex outside of a relationship, despite the fact that they are uncomfortable doing so, and don't find the sex very fulfilling or very good.[14][1][3][15]

Hookups can be discomforting with feelings of pressure and performance anxiety,[6][1] and especially when they are provided anonymity, many men admit that hookup culture itself fosters sexual performance anxiety.[14]

The vast majority of students in studies say that they would like to be in a committed relationship. One has found that 63% of college-aged men and 83% of college-aged women would prefer a traditional romantic relationship at their current stage in life to casual sex.[1]

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.[6][8]


While more than half of students of both genders say they would like a hook up to develop into a romantic relationship,[1][16]

Only half of women, 51%, and only 42% of men, have tried discussing the possibility of beginning a romantic relationship with a hookup partner.[1]

More than half of college relationships begin with a hook-up,[17] and usually after months of engaging is a serial hookup.[14] Relationships that begin as a hookup, or as a "friends with benefits" situation report lower levels of satisfaction, however.[1]

The "negative consequences of hookups can include emotional and psychological injury, sexual violence, sexually transmitted infections, and/or unintended pregnancy."[1] Most students report with not concerning themselves with or being concerned about the health risks that come with hookups, especially if their partner was a member of their own community, such as a college campus.[1]

Hookup culture has "profound" emotional effects on the students who live in it.[14] Discrepancies between their behaviors (i.e. emotionally void hookups) and their desires (i.e. love, companionship, and a relationship) have "dramatic implications for physical and mental health."[1]

This misperception of sexual norms is another reason why students continue to hookup, even when they do not personally endorse the behavior.[1][15]

"A number of studies" have found that students, both men and women, overwhelmingly regret their hookups.[1]

In interviews, college men "expressed distinct discomfort" with the hookup culture paradigm.[1]

The reality is that students are not are sexually permissive as their friends believe they are, a problem exacerbated by students' media diets and the influence it has on them.[1]

The American Academy of Pediatrics has argued that media representations of sexuality may influence teen sexual behavior,[18] and this view is supported by many scholars,.[1][19][20]

In contemporary music, hookups dominate in lyrics that discuss sex and 92% of Top 10 songs from 2009 containing references to mating or reproduction.[1]

The increase of hookup culture has been criticized for sometimes leading to loneliness, and social and emotional problems.[6]

According to a review by evolutionary biologist Justin R. Garcia published by the American Psychological Association, this "is an unprecedented time in the history of human sexuality. In the United States, the age when people first marry and reproduce has been pushed back dramatically, while at the same time the age of puberty has dropped, resulting in an era in which young adults are physiologically able to reproduce but not psychologically or socially ready to 'settle down' and begin a family."[6]

The rise of hookups, a form of casual sex, was a "cultural revolution" that had its start in the 1920s.[6] Technological advancements such as the automobile and movie theaters brought young couples out of their parents homes, and out from their watchful eyes, giving them more freedom and more opportunity for sexual activity.[6]

The hookup culture promises those who take part that they can have sex with "no strings attached." According to Garcia casual sex has become more common, but is leaving people who partake feeling lonely, emotionally scarred, and with "more strings attached than many participants might first assume."[6]

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.[6][8]

Hookups can be discomforting with feelings of pressure and performance anxiety,[6][1] and especially when they are provided anonymity, many men admit that hookup culture itself fosters sexual performance anxiety.[14]

While more than half of students of both genders say they would like a hook up to develop into a romantic relationship,[16][1] only 6.5% (4.4% of men and 8.2% of women) expect that one will.[6][21] Only half of women, 51%, and only 42% of men, have tried discussing the possibility of beginning a romantic relationship with a hookup partner.[1] The regret and other negative consequences seen following a hookup may result from students trying to negotiate their desire for immediate sexual gratification and their desire for a stable relationship.[6][21]

Hookups often result in and psychological injury, sexual violence, sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancy.[6]

One study has found that men have a higher opinion a hookup the morning after it than women do.[6]

The hookup culture "has turned hooking up into a sport that all the 'cool' kids are playing--or at least talking about--even if they secretly hate it."[16]

A hookup can consist of anything from kissing to intercourse.[16]

To equate a hookup with casual sex, regardless of how far the participants went, "is to miss the really important part of the conversation, which is that students feel so much pressure to show they are a part of things that they'll count almost anything as a hookup."[16]


Discrepancies between their behaviors (i.e. casual sex) and their desires (i.e. love, companionship, and a relationship) have dramatic implications for physical and mental health.[6]

Particularly for women, hookup culture exposes students to high rates of emotional trauma and physical assault.[22] Those with the most regret about their hookups also reported more symptoms of depression.[6][23] Furthermore, women's depression worsened with each new sex partner she had within the previous year.[6][23]

"The good news," according to one expert, is that "the urge to participate in hookup culture might be fleeting. As people get a bit older, we also see more traditional dating practices across all age groups. That will never change--pursuit of sex and love are at the core of the human condition."[16]

However, many men are just as stressed out by hookup culture as their female counterparts.[14] Students who engaged in penetrative sex hookups are more likely to report being depressed and lonely than those who do not.[6][8] Additionally, students of both genders who had ever engaged in an uncommitted sexual encounter reported lower levels of self-esteem compared to those who had not.[6][24][25]

"A number of studies" have found that students, both men and women, overwhelmingly regret their hookups.[1] In one, 77% of students regretted their hookups,[6][26] and in another 78% of women and 72% of men who had uncommitted vaginal, anal, and/or oral sex regretted the experience.[6][26] Intercourse that occurred less than 24 hours after meeting, and those that took place only one time are the most likely to be regretted.[27] Men were more likely to be sorry for having used another person, and women regretted the experience because they felt they had been used.[6][27]

Unwanted and nonconsensual sexual encounters are more likely occurring alongside alcohol and substance use.[6]

The relationship between drinking and the party scene, and between alcohol and hookup culture, is "impossible to miss."[14][6] In one study, 33% of those who had hooked up indicated that it was "unintentional," and likely due to the influence of alcohol or other drugs.[6][21] In a survey of first year students, women said that 64% of their hookups came after drinking alcohol.[6][25] These results were similar to another study which found that 61% of all undergraduates reported drinking alcohol before their last hookup.[6][28] Those who used either marijuana or cocaine in the past year were also more likely than their peers to have hooked up during the previous 12 months.[6][29]

The more alcohol that is consumed, the further a hookup generally goes. The students who reported the least amount of alcohol consumption were also the least likely to hook up. At the other end of the spectrum, the greatest alcohol consumption was associated with penetrative sex, and less alcohol consumption with nonpenatrative hookups.[6][8] Of those who took part in a hook up that included vaginal, anal, or oral sex, 35% were very intoxicated, 27% were mildly intoxicated, 27% were sober and 9% were extremely intoxicated.[6][30] Alcohol may also be consumed so students may use it as an excuse after the fact, and to justify their behavior.[6][24]

The discrepancy between social attitudes and sex education for young men and young women may have a "a significant influence on behavioral patterns and outcomes in sexual hookups."[6]

Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Mark O'Connell has said that the "explosion of sex without meaning" among American teens "is deeply symptomatic. Emotional deadness, disengagement, and constriction are increasingly the norm. (Oral sex is, after all, 'just something to do.') 'Sexual addiction,' [the medical] term for moving from sexual experience to sexual experience without ever being satisfied, is prevalent. Meanwhile, for many kids precocious sexuality represents not freedom and experimentation but is a byproduct frequently seen with sexual trauma: compulsively driven activity that both expresses and aims to manage the effects of chronic intrusion and overstimulation."[31]

There has been such a decline in dating culture on college campuses that most students have had more hookups than first dates.[16]

"Without exception, [students] discuss a long-term monogamous relationship as their desired end goal."[16]

While many may consider hookups a phenomenon largely confined to college campuses, people of all ages engage in the behavior.[16][32]

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  5. ^ Regnerus 2007, p. 120.
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