For all the stories we hear about “hookup” culture on college campuses, more and more research is showing that growing numbers of college students are not only having less sex than college students used to, but they are also dating less as well.
It seems many students’ reaction to the debauchery of the hookup scene is to forgo opposite-sex relationships altogether, which makes it only harder for many students to build successful relationships later in life. Speaking with the Institute for Family Studies, Brigham Young University professor Dr. Jason Carroll notes that as marriage ages move from the late 20s to the early 30s, the risk of divorce actually goes up.
Not that Carroll is advising students to dive into the hookup scene or immediately pair off with the first boyfriend or girlfriend they find. An expert on marital formation and family life, he advises college students to try and bring back a happy medium between hookups and “hooked at the hip” relationships.
“To be fair, I think the two extremes are related,” Carroll told the IFS. “A lot of people who’ve been exposed to the ‘hanging out’ world may see this as the only viable alternative — you either jump in and have the immediate boyfriend or girlfriend, or you end up without any commitment. We’ve lost the middle ground.”
Carroll hopes college students will revive a dating culture in which men can ask women out for one-on-one dates, but where people don’t assume that a single date means two people are automatically an exclusive couple.
“Let’s say a young woman is out on a date,” the professor said. “It’s probably best if her girlfriends aren’t back home going through bridal magazines, right? That sort of pressure is not good.”
Part of the problem for young women looking to date casually on college campuses right now is the dearth of young men to serve as partners. Most colleges’ student bodies are at least 60% female these days, and at some schools, their share approaches 70%.
Maybe if we really want to end hookup culture, what we actually need to do is get more men into college.
