Researchers say that the belief that early college hookups are unhealthy is conjecture. While this activity can be linked to sexual victimization, it cannot predict future depression, according to a press release.
Many studies have suggested that early college hookups are not only bad for a person's grades; they also result in anxiety and depression later in life. However, researchers from Syracuse and Brown Universities found that this belief is conjecture. After conducting a study they found that while college hookups can be linked to sexual victimization, they do not predict future depression.
The study was conducted on 483 first-year female undergraduate students. They were asked to complete 13 surveys that assessed their take on hookups versus romantic sexual behaviors in relation to depression, sexual victimization, as well as self-reported and biologically-confirmed STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections).
Researchers found that while these hookups do result in depression, they can't predict whether the person will experience similar depression in the future as a negative consequence of early college hookups.
The findings also emphasized on the need for proper educational efforts and further research into the nature of these associations.
Despite racy headlines suggesting that college kids are increasingly choosing casual liaisons over serious relationships, a new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association found that just under one-third of college students have had more than one partner in the past year.
"College students today are not having more sexual partners [after] age 18, more sexual partners over the last year or more sex than their parents," said the study's lead author Martin Monto, professor of sociology at the University of Portland in Oregon. Gen Xers were actually more likely to have sex weekly or more frequently compared with millennials, according to the research.
Findings of the study "Sexual Hookups and Adverse Health Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study of First-Year College Women," were published in The Journal of Sex Research.
