'It's Complicated...': Psychosocial and Religious/Spiritual Coping with Hookup Experiences

摘要

The majority of college students report having had at least one hook up experience, meaning that most have engaged in some form of sexual activity outside of romantic relationships or dating and without the expectation of a future relationship. This project aimed to provide a balanced account of the ways in which college students may experience hook-ups as both psychosocially adaptive and maladaptive and the ways in which various coping strategies may relate to their psychological adjustment and decision making with regard to alcohol and condom use when hooking up. This study surveyed 317 college students at a mid-size state university to (1) examine the extent to which hooking up itself elicits emotional reactions that are both positive and negative; (2) investigate the prevalence of various psychosocial and religious/spiritual coping struggles and resources with hooking up; and (3) determine whether specific types of coping tended to be linked to general psychosocial adjustment. Results showed that both men and women endorsed a mix of positive and negative emotions, with more positive than negative emotional reactions. However, women had significantly lower scores on positive emotions and higher scores on negative reactions than did men. For women, greater reliance on more healthy coping mechanisms such as seeking emotional support, institutional support, and positive reframing tended to be linked to greater flourishing. For certain more religious individuals, even low levels of hook-up behavior may contribute to a range of r/s struggles that in turn are tied to poorer psychological adjustment. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.