Casual dating

Casual dating or a casual relationship is a physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have casual sex or a near-sexual relationship without necessarily demanding or expecting the extra commitments of a more formal romantic relationship. Motives for casual relationships vary.^[1] There are significant gender and cultural differences in acceptance of and breadth of casual relationships,^[2][3][4][5] as well as in regrets about action/inaction in those relationships.^[6]

Casual dating may be part-time, or for a limited time. It may or may not entail partner-exclusivity. In each case, the relationship's dominance in the lives of those involved is being voluntarily limited, and there is usually a sense that the relationship is intended to endure only so long as both parties wish it to. Casual relationships sometimes include mutual support, affection and enjoyment, which underpin other forms of loving relationship.^[7]

A casual relationship is sometimes referred to as a "no strings attached" relationship.

College students

A "no strings attached" relationship is most commonly found in young adults such as college students. The shift from childhood to adulthood brings on much exploration in different fields. One of these fields include relationships and sex.^[8] This is the time in life where mastery of future life skills is attempted.^[8] Grello's study suggests that, in most cases, the same students who lost their virginity in high school lost them in a romantic relationship.^[8] After experiencing sexual intercourse, many college students go on to have casual sex with either friends or peers they have been recently or newly acquainted with.^[8]

A study published by the Archives of Sexual Behavior reported that sixty percent of college students have participated in a casual relationship. Wayne State University and Michigan State University conducted a similar survey and sixty-six percent of the undergraduates in this study said they had also been in a casual relationship. About half of this sixty-six percent said they were currently in such a relationship.^[9]

A casual relationship, unlike a romantic relationship, is very undefined and it is difficult to ascribe norms, scripts, and expectations to it.^[10] Rebecca Plante, an associate professor at Ithaca College, has specialized in research on casual relationships, and says that this type of relationship can be beneficial. Casual relationships can establish a "healthy outlet for sexual needs and desires."^[10]

Types of college-aged lovers

J.A. Lee, author of Love Styles in the R.J Sternberg & M.L. Barnes: The psychology of love journal, has come up with two main types of lovers for college aged young adults. They are "Eros" lovers who are passionate lovers and "Ludas" or "Ludic" lovers, which are game-playing lovers.^[11] "Eros" lovers are lovers that are often struck by "Cupid's Arrow". They often fall head over heels at the first sight of a potential relationship. "Eros" fall in love with the physical attributes of another before any other characteristic. This type of lover is also known to commit to other casual sex relationships.^[11] Because physical attributes are the main reason for attraction, it is very hard to further a real romantic relationship.^[8] "Ludic" lovers are out for the game. They are looking for the feeling of conquest and typically enter a relationship or hook-up with very little or no intentions of establishing any kind of commitment. They, in most cases, will have more than one sexually active partner at a given time. They also find it very hard to picture a relationship getting serious.^[11] With both of these types of lovers being open to having more than one sexual partner, it helps explain why many college students participate in casual relationships.^[8]

Negotiation between participants

Many casual relationships establish guidelines or a set of rules. The two participants in the relationship will reach an agreement about what each expects from the relationship. Another major concern is that one of the partners will develop romantic feelings for the other.^[12] Communication between the two partners is essential to making this type of relationship work and because the partners in the casual relationship are often friends beforehand, talking to one another is a much simpler task.^[12]

Triangle theory of love

Robert Sternberg's triangular theory of love offers the type of flexibility that may be suited in helping this type of relationship become successful.

Relationship maintenance and student concerns

Casual relationships, being a mix between a friendship and a non-romantic sexual relationship, result in the partners facing many challenges in maintaining a working relationship. Based on the exchange theory, Hughes witnessed an individual dependency on either partner as the exchange of resources, knowledge, rewards, and costs of items, becomes more and more prominent.^[13] The partners may become dependent on advice the other partner gives, or the company they receive when being around one another. This may be a one-way street and one partner may not feel this way.^[13] Any partner that is not fully dependent upon the other typically controls the casual relationship. The dependent partner is more submissive to their dominant partner as they do not want the relationship to end.^[13] This allows the less dependent partner to be able to fix and maintain the relationship the way he/she wants it to be. They normally control when they meet up, when they have sex, and when they do things together.^[13]

Many students share the same concerns when it came to beginning a casual relationship with a person who was already their friend. Bisson and Levine found that there were four main worries.^[9]

• Romantic feelings would occur: 65.3% of students were afraid one or both of the participants would establish romantic feelings for the other.^[9]
• Hurting the friendship: 28.2% were worried that the friendship that was already established would be harmed.^[9]
• Causes negative emotions towards one another: 27.4% were concerned negative feelings would develop between the two friends.^[9]
• Pregnancy/STDs: 9.7% of the students surveyed were worried they would become pregnant or catch an STD.^[9]

Disclosure of casual relationship to peers

Hughes's study also revealed the four main categories of why partners participating in a casual relationship did not feel the need to tell their same sex friends about the relationship. The first category was that the partners did not feel that their same sex friends needed to know this information.^[13] The second category consisted of people wanting to keep the casual relationship a secret and didn't want their same sex friends to know.^[13] The feeling of embarrassment was the third category. Many students said that they would feel ashamed or didn't want to be judged by their same sex friends.^[13] The final category is students who didn't want to tell their same sex friends because they would show disapproval of the relationship.^[13]

Motivations

Hughes's study suggests that there were five main motivations to why college students wanted to be in a casual relationship.^[13] The five main motivators are:

• Relationship avoidance: Students that liked multiple partners at once and wanted to avoid being tied down to one person.^[13]
• Sex: Students find each other attractive and want to hook-up.^[13]
• Relationship simplicity: Students get the benefits of a relationship without all the drama.^[13]
• Emotional connection: Students miss the intimacy they used to have with ex relationships and want to experience it again with no strings attached.^[13]
• Always wanted a casual relationship: Two students that are single and want to take advantage of it together.^[13]

Gender participation

A traditional stereotype of heterosexual casual relationships in college is that the men initiate the sexual activity.^[14] Another stereotype is that men are more sexually active and women link sex with romance. This is not true all the time, especially in college students.^[14] A study conducted by Paul and her team suggests that when it comes to gender participation, there are just as many women initiating these relationships.^[14] Pressure from friends and other social means may persuade college students to participate in a casual relationship or "hook-up" regardless of their gender.^[14]

Environmental factors

College and university campuses are often characterised by the amount of drinking or partying that goes on there.^[14] However, campuses can also be characterized by how sexually permissive the students are and also the types of sexual activity prevalent (intercourse, oral, anal) with one or multiple partners.^[14] Being placed in an environment of already sexually active students can put pressure on other students to be sexually active as well.^[14]

The environment that students are placed in often plays a role in whether or not they feel pressured into finding a casual relationship. The colleges and universities known for a larger alcohol consumption by their students seem to also have a larger number of students participating in casual relationships.^[14] Researchers have struggled with the idea that the "perceived disinhibitory function" leads to the reason for increased sexual activity.^[14]

Casual sex

Casual sex are certain types of sexual activity outside the context of a romantic relationship. Although individuals in a casual relationship may engage in casual sex, the former encompasses a range of activities not confined to the context of the latter.^[15][16]

While providing a sexual outlet, the practice of casual sex often carries negative connotations. In some sexual relationships among teenagers in the U.S., the predominant activity is not penetrative sex, but rather oral sex and mutual masturbation, as this reduces the risks associated with sexual promiscuity, such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Some medical authorities – such as Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, a professor of pediatrics – suggest that teenagers do not view oral sex as "real sex" and use it to remain in a state of "technical" virginity.^[17]

A common factor found in many studies on casual sex is that sexual intercourse occurs within a relationship between two partners that have no commitment towards one another. Casual sex presents itself as less risky than random sexual intercourse because of your prior knowledge of the partner you are having sexual intercourse with.^[14] When participating in casual sex, you are more likely to know your partner (on a more personal level) than a partner you just have a "one night stand" with.^[14]

Alcohol consumption

According to clinical psychologist Catherine Grello, "alcohol consumption appears to have a direct link with casual sex."^[8] The more alcohol that is involved the higher the possibility of a casual relationship forming. Both male and female college students are more likely to engage in sexual activity while intoxicated.^[8] Consumption of alcohol increases the perceptions of attraction between partners which leads to sexual activity at a much higher rate. Also, with intoxication, low self-esteem and symptoms of depression may be adding factors to increase the chances to engage in this type of relationship or sexual activity.^[8]

See also

• Affair
• Emotional affair
• On-again, off-again relationship
• Romantic friendship
• Sociosexual orientation

References

Notes

External links

• NPR's Talk of the Nation: Friends with Benefits
• No-Strings-Attached Sex