College students aren’t jumping into bed with a new Duke University study. The study claims that the “hookup” mentality so ingrained in popular culture may not be as prevalent on college campuses as previously thought.
Researchers sampled about 1,500 freshmen and seniors at Duke, asking randomly selected students detailed questions about their past sexual encounters. Results of the study revealed that only one-third of students reported hooking up at least once in college. Of those, oral sex and vaginal intercourse comprised less than one half of the encounters, according to the study.
Some Boston University students said that there is always ambiguity involved with the term “hook-up.”
“My definition of a hook-up is having sex,” said College of Arts and Sciences senior Julia Delbalzo. “It just depends on who you’re talking to.”
School of Management junior Terry Sall said he considers hooking up to have broader connotations.
“I would classify a hook-up as, I don’t know, making out,” he said.
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences freshman Katie Brightman said she thinks hooking up can have multiple meanings.
“There’s, like, different types of hookups,” she said. “You always have to decipher what it means.”
Despite the various levels of hooking up, most students agree that hook-ups are casual encounters.
“The feelings are suppressed,” said CAS freshman Asa Tyler. “It is purely sexual.”
Numerous BU students also said they disagreed with the notion that hook-ups don’t often occur on college campuses.
Delbalzo said she thinks hook-ups are common among BU students, but that it is difficult to discern the amounts and frequencies of such encounters.
“I, personally, am not like that, but I kind of consider myself a minority,” she said.
Sall said he thinks students engage in casual sexual encounters as often as once a month.
“People do it,” he said. “It probably happens more at parties.”
Sall said he also thinks age is an important factor in whether students hook up.
“It’s definitely more frequent among the younger kids,” he said. “Your average freshman hasn’t changed.”
Similarly, Brightman said the urge to hook up depends on college year.
“It’s your freshman year, you want to go crazy,” she said of younger students.
Brightman also said that she thinks the frequency of hooking up ranges immensely among students, from constant encounters to never having hooked up.
Tyler also said he defines hook-ups by semesters.
“First-semester hook-ups were more common,” he said. “Second semester, you want to find a relationship.”
Sall also said he doesn’t think any major changes in the college mindset can be found in terms of sexual activity.
“I don’t think there’s really trends,” he said.
Likewise, Delbalzo said she doesn’t see any why there would be any changes in hookup mentality among her own friends, except in the case of maturing.
“I think maybe my friends are just growing up,” she said.
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