Coital and Non-Coital Hooking-Up Behaviors of College Students.
Penhollow, Tina*,1, Young, Michael*,1, Bailey, William1, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
ABSTRACT- Purpose: On college campuses across the nation, hooking up, or engaging in sexual activities in which there is no future commitment, has become normative behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of hooking up behaviors relative to religiosity and sexual satisfaction. Methods: Data were collected from a convenience sample of undergraduate students (n = 459) at a southeastern university. Researchers utilized SAS programs to complete the data analysis. Data were analyzed using frequency counts, univariate analysis (chi-square and ANOVA) and logistic regression. Results: Findings revealed 53.17% of college students had ever hooked up. Of the females who reported hooking up, 25% engaged in sexual intercourse every time or most of the time. Of the males who hooked up, 51% engaged in sexual intercourse every time or most of the time. Chi-square analyses revealed that males (64.24%) were significantly more likely than females (47.22%) to have hooked up (p < .001). Hooking up was found to be not independent of religious attendance or religious feelings, with those who attended worship services less frequently and those who were not as religious significantly more likely to have hooked-up, than those who attended more frequently (p<.001) and those who were more religious (p < .001). To examine differences in sexual satisfaction, as a function of gender and hooking up, a two-way analysis of variance was performed. Results of the ANOVA indicated a significant main effect for ever hooking up and sexual satisfaction scores (p < .0001). Logistic regression revealed sexual satisfaction for females made a unique contribution to distinguishing between those who had hooked up and those who had not (p < .0001, percent concordant = 61.6). For males, sexual satisfaction and religious commitment each made unique contributions relative to hooking up behavior (p < .0001, percent concordant = 75.5). Conclusions: Results indicate sexual satisfaction and religiosity may determine involvement in casual high-risk sexual encounters which place college students at risk for sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. Results should be of value to college level sexuality educators and considered by those involved in sexual health programming on college campuses.
Key words: sexuality, religion, hooking-up, satisfaction