College students are “hooking up” — but not as often as you may think.
Hooking up is less frequent among first-year college students than having sex in a romantic relationship, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine and published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
According to a ScienceDaily press release, hooking up is any type of sexual intimacy involving partners who are not in a romantic relationship or dating without any mutual expectations of commitment.
Robyn L. Fielder, a research intern at the hospital, said 483 first-year female college students were asked how often they participated in oral and vaginal sex with casual and romantic partners. “During the first year of college, 40 percent of women engaged in sex within hookups,” she wrote in an email. “Fifty-six percent engaged in sex within romantic relationships.”
Sexual relations involving only kissing and sexual touching were not measured because oral or vaginal sex is more likely to influence public health issues like sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy, she said.
Melissa Yawn, a 19-year-old English freshman at UF, said she didn’t agree with the results because she thinks college students are more likely to engage in sexual activity without being romantically involved.
A key reason for this, she said, is the “everyone-else-is-doing-it mentality.”
“College-aged students typically jump into doing things in the heat of the moment instead of considering consequences of their actions,” Yawn said, adding she thinks the results are inaccurate because “random hookups” are less likely to be reported.
Fielder said between 7 and 18 percent of women reported oral and/or vaginal sex within a hookup each month. Meanwhile, 25 to 38 percent said they had sex within a romantic relationship each month.
Fielder said the research can assist health programs for the college-aged population develop. The research could help correct common misconceptions of students and their sexual relationships, especially at larger institutions like UF.
“Educational and health promotion campaigns, condom distribution and STD screening for college students may have the most impact if concentrated at the beginning and end of the academic year, when students are hooking up more often,” she said.
According to the press release, the highest hookup rates occurred in October. The lowest were in June.
“Hooking up is one way that young people explore intimate relationships,” Fielder said. “But it is often exploratory and is not the most common way.”
