2571: Are Millennials Really the "Hook-Up Generation" by Dr. Gary Lewandowski of Luvze

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[00:00:30] This is Optimal Relationships Daily, Are Millennials Really the Hook-Up Generation? By Dr. Gary Lewandowski of loves.com. Do you believe these statements? College students today care more about hooking up than forming meaningful relationships. Hooking up on college campuses is rampant. Millennials are part of a hook-up culture that did not exist in the past.

[00:00:56] I mean, they sound perfectly reasonable, especially based on what you've likely seen in the media about Millennials, i.e. those born in the 80s and 90s. However, just because it feels true doesn't mean it's actually true. Let's see if these statements are correct by examining what the most recent science has to say. Do college students care more about hooking up than forming meaningful relationships?

[00:01:21] To answer this question, researchers surveyed over 200 college students and asked them which of the following they preferred for themselves. 1. Traditional dating. One person asks another person to do something together on a date, and this may or may not turn into a committed relationship. Or 2. Hooking up. A physical encounter, usually only lasting one night, between two people who are strangers or brief acquaintances.

[00:01:48] Some physical interaction is typical and may or may not include intercourse. In response to the prompt, all in all, everything being equal, I would prefer, both men and women reported that they would rather have a traditional dating relationship than simply a hook-up. This shows that when given the general choice, men and women both prefer traditional dating, though women prefer it more than men.

[00:02:13] Similarly, when men and women stated they were specifically looking for a long-term partner, both would rather date than hook-up. The science here suggests that the perception that college students would rather hook-up is simply wrong. Is hooking up on college campuses rampant? As part of the same study, researchers asked college students about the types of relationships they were actually having, hook-ups or first dates. The answer?

[00:02:40] Students reported having twice as many hook-ups as first dates over the past two years. Though this statistic sounds shocking, it's important to realize that first dates are more likely to turn into committed relationships, and thus greatly limits the number of other first dates that person could have over that time period. For example, in a given six-month period, a person who goes on a date that results in a serious relationship only has one first date over that time,

[00:03:09] while a person who isn't dating could easily have several hook-ups during that same time period. Today's young adults also have a harder time knowing when something is actually a date, which may contribute to the discrepancy between the hook-up and dating numbers. As we've discussed in a previous article, over 70% of college students report having hooked up at least once. What we do know, based on these data, is that college students report hooking up more.

[00:03:37] But, we also know that there are important explanations that help account for the discrepancy in the dating versus hook-up numbers. Regardless, the fact that college students hook up more than they date, and that a majority of students have hooked up, does not prove that today's college students are necessarily a hook-up generation. To draw that conclusion, you would need data, not simply beliefs, that today's college students are hooking up more than previous generations of college students.

[00:04:06] Are millennials part of a hook-up culture that did not exist in the past? Think of this as the omnipresent, kids today are different stereotype. Although a common narrative, do the data support the notion that today's young adults are hooking up more than previous generations? In short, no. A sociological study using the General Social Survey comparing hook-up rates among today's students with students from a decade ago,

[00:04:34] found that both groups reported similar rates of hooking up. Specifically, 31.9% of students from 1988 to 1996 reported having more than one partner in the past year, whereas 31.6% of today's college students reported having more than one partner in the past year. When the study's lead author, Martin Monto, was asked to respond to media reports about the rampant hook-up culture, he replied, quote,

[00:05:03] This implies that the college campus has become a more eroticized environment, and that undergraduates are having more intercourse than in the past. We were surprised to find that this is not the case. End quote. So, the science, at least so far, does not support the commonly held belief that millennials are part of a hook-up culture. Instead, the data indicate that college students are hooking up, but that this has been true of college culture for decades.

[00:05:31] Why does the perception of the hook-up generation exist? College students themselves may be partially to blame for the persistence of this belief. That is, if you ask college students about the prevalence of hooking up, they demonstrate pluralistic ignorance, or the belief that others are doing something more than is actually true. Specifically, college students not only overestimate how often their fellow college students hook up, but also overestimate how comfortable they are with hooking up.

[00:06:00] But it really isn't entirely college students' fault. The definition of what constitutes hooking up is vague. Is it kissing someone, or does it have to be more? Does it count if it's with a friend? Which only makes hooking up seem more common. Finally, if college students buy into the media's portrayal of hook-ups being common, it could lead them to pay more attention to instances that match these beliefs, a phenomenon known as confirmation bias, which can also lead to ignoring contradictory information,

[00:06:30] such as all of the college students who are in long-term committed relationships. Conclusion Ultimately, the data reviewed indicates that millennials are not part of a hook-up generation any more than previous generations. Though today's college students hook up more than they date, so did yesterday's college students. As we say at Science of Relationships, the important things in life deserve data. So, the next time you hear something about relationships that sounds true,

[00:06:59] wait until you see what the data has to say before you believe it. You just listened to the post titled, Are Millennials Really the Hookup Generation? by Dr. Gary Lewandowski of loves.com And a great post today from Dr. Gary with loves, as per usual. Great research and great insight. A few things to consider, though. So, number one, this article, while great and applicable,

[00:07:27] is from 2014, at which point more millennials were in college. So, I would be interested in seeing the research now that a lot of millennials are out of college, and the dating app game, which probably facilitates more casual encounters or hookups, is way stronger than it was in 2014 as well. And number two, I'm a little uncertain about the desires attached to this. Dr. Gary mentioned at the beginning that millennials surveyed

[00:07:57] would rather have a long-term relationship than a hookup. But, of course, we all feel that way. Very few people feel otherwise, and even fewer would openly admit it, especially just eight years ago. That fantasy is a common one. But, being interested in it doesn't necessarily mean we're ready for it or prepared to make sacrifices for it, or don't have extremely high standards around it. And I would argue that standards are higher now,

[00:08:25] again, with so many more options seemingly on the table thanks to dating apps. Therefore, you can want something long-term. But if your standards are consistently higher, less people qualify for a long-term partnership with you, the more common it will be to hookup until that happens. So, those are a couple of my thoughts that I think are important to consider here. And even if we have morphed more into a hookup culture since 2014, if you want to start throwing good and bad around,

[00:08:54] I suppose at least one benefit of that is that people are taking their time to explore their needs, and not rushing so blindly into commitment, as may have been the case in past generations. Food for thought. Okay, folks, fun article. Thank you for listening. Time to skip on out of here, though. I really appreciate you joining today, and I hope you'll all do the same tomorrow, because I will be back as usual with another post. That's where your optimal life awaits.