The Influence of College Hookups on Future Romantic Relationships: A Review of the Literature

Hooking up is a popular trend on college campuses (Victor, 2012). Traditionally, hooking up has been viewed as a sexual risk behavior and research has focused on implications such as the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STI) or unintended pregnancy (Downing-Matibag & Geisinger, 2009). However, hookup behavior may also influence attitudes toward future romantic relationships and young adult perceptions of their ability to be in romantic relationships (Riggio, Weiser, Valenzuela, Lui, Montes & Heuer, 2009; Sassler, 2010). In addition, gender plays a critical role in heterosexual hookup behavior, since there is often a power differential present (Cook-Lindsay, 2013; Lovejoy, 2015), and must be closely examined. Thus, this literature review seeks to examine heterosexual hookup behavior and future romantic relationships. We suggest that hookups are linked to future romantic relationships through romantic relationship self-efficacy, or one's perception of their ability to be in a romantic relationship (Riggio et al., 2013). In addition, upon our review, there are clear gender differences in perceptions of heterosexual hookups which may contribute to perceptions of future romantic relationships. This is discussed in depth and suggestions for future research are provided.