Let’s Hook Up: PSYC student studies casual relationships among college students

Nichole Shelly compiles her research materials. Shelly is doing her Honors Thesis research on the casual relationship known as “hooking up.” Photo by Adam UzzellBy Adam Uzell

Everyone knows about it, and a lot of people do it. But what is actually involved with the stereotypical casual relationship known as “hooking up”? 

While many students may have experience with hooking up, the act of hooking up is not always the same from person to person, and the emotions involved are not always clearly understood.

One Winthrop student, Nichole Shelly, is doing her Honors Thesis on just the emotions that come from hooking up.  Shelly, a 21-year-old senior psychology major at Winthrop, dreams of teaching about healthy relationships and has gathered research to determine what a college student feels after hooking up and why.

To accomplish this, Shelly posted a survey online and had it filled out by college students who were predominantly from Winthrop.  

Out of the 130 students surveyed, there was an even distribution of male to female students and black to white students.  Few students of other ethnicities filled out the surveys, and the average age was 19 years-old.

Her survey found that approximately 75 percent of college students have reported “hooking up” at some point. In addition, Shelly found that most students responded to hooking up with either shame or guilt. 

“Some people use shame and guilt interchangeably,” Shelly said. But Shelly classifies them as two distinct outlooks.  Shame is associated with feeling bad about the situation, while guilt is associated with feeling bad about one’s own behavior.

Students who experience guilt after a hook up generally had less sex than those who experienced shame.  In addition, the students who felt shame after a hook up generally had a bad hook up or felt forced into a physical act.

“A person who is more inclined to feel shame is more likely to get into a rape situation,” said Shelly.

Interestingly, Shelly found no significant correlation between hook up results and academic year or religion. 

However, the survey did reveal that students who began hooking up at an earlier age were more prone to go farther in hook up situations than those who began hooking up at a later age.  The correlation suggests a link between development and emotional responses to sexual encounters.

Shelly did admit the survey has a few limitations. The survey did not account for homosexual, bisexual or transsexual students.  Most studies that were examined to develop the survey also dealt only with heterosexual instances.  

However, Shelly believes this type of research is vital for promoting healthy relationships in young adults.   

“Please, tell your partner what you want beforehand, and don’t be ashamed of yourself for your mistakes,” Shelly said.