A large body of research suggests that being involved in a meaningful relationship, particularly a high-quality romantic relationship, is a strong protective factor against depression and other mental health problems, like substance abuse, in adults (e.g., Whisman, 2000).

Much remains unclear or understudied regarding the widespread phenomenon of “hooking up” -or casual sexual encounters between uncommitted partners- among emerging adult college students.

A sample of 540 single college students completed a two-part online survey (n = 300 at Time 2) that assessed hooking up and several characteristics of these encounters (e.g., degree of sexual intimacy, characteristics of one’s hook up partner), as well as measured several aspects of college student health and well-being that have been found to be correlated with casual sexual behavior, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-esteem, hazardous alcohol use, and general physical health.

The study had two broad aims:

1) Examine young adults' motivations for hooking up; their expected and ideal outcomes of hook ups; actual outcomes of their most recent hook ups using follow-up data, and whether ideal outcomes of these encounters were fulfilled.

This research question was the basis of Eliza Weitbrecht’s Masters Thesis project. Data analysis revealed that 348 participants reported at Time 1 that they had hooked up before (64%). Results showed that sexual pleasure was the most commonly endorsed motive for hooking up by the overall sample, but that several gender differences emerged across additional motives. For both genders, the most commonly reported expected outcome of hook ups was continued sexual involvement; however, men and women differed significantly on ideal outcomes of hook ups, with more women reporting a relationship and more men reporting continued sexual involvement (e.g., “friends-with-benefits”) as ideal. Follow-up data indicated that actual outcomes of most recent hook ups varied considerably, but that continued sexual involvement was most commonly endorsed as the outcome (32%). Approximately 44% of participants reported that the ideal outcome of their most recent hook up was fulfilled.

Results suggest that men and women may have incompatible approaches toward hooking up, which may create limited opportunities for women to experience the types of sexual and romantic interactions they desire (e.g., a committed relationship; emotional intimacy), given that men appear to be less interested than women in forming long-term commitments during college.

2) The second overall aim of the Hook Up Study is to examine longitudinal associations between hooking up and well-being in order to speak to the question of whether hooking up leads to poorer well-being or if individuals with poorer well-being are more likely to hook up.

Results indicated that these associations work in both directions: hooking up leads to increases in depressive symptoms and heavy drinking, and also people with poorer well-being (higher depression, anxiety, drinking, and lower self esteem) are more likely to hook up.