Speech , study analyze Duke hook-ups
By: Ally Helmers
Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: News
Last update: 10/15/07 at 6:52 AM EST
Last update: 10/15/07 at 6:52 AM EST
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Casual sex is increasingly described as the normative form of romantic relationships on campuses, said Suzanne Shanahan, associate director of the Kenan Institute of Ethics and assistant professor of sociology.
Shanahan led the presentation "Love on the Quad: Romantic Relationships," Saturday to an audience of Duke's Half-Century Club members, who attended the event as a part of Homecoming Weekend activities. In a cross-disciplinary research study, Shanahan examined the changing relationships among students at Duke and other college campuses, along with the concept of a "hook-up" and its effects on student interaction.
"Popular press has become obsessed with the hook-up culture of young people," she said.
According to a report produced for the Independent Women's Forum in 2001, 91 percent of college women surveyed on campuses nationwide described their school as having a "salient hook-up culture," Shanahan added. Other surveys found that approximately 70 to 80 percent of college students engaged in intercourse with a casual sex partner during the previous year.
The study aims not only to define "hook-up," but also to understand how students' environments affect their decisions and perceptions of relationships.
"We are just getting underway with our systematic work at Duke-so much is still speculative," Shanahan said. "[In the winter] we hope to bring the survey findings back to the students to think them through."
Some Half-Century Club audience members such as Tom Cottingham, Trinity '37, said they found the statistics "fascinating." For an audience familiar with the transient relationships of past campus culture, the prevalence of a casual romantic interaction is still surprising, he said.
A few current Duke students said, however, that they are not at all surprised.
"I don't really know anyone who is in a relationship with someone here," freshman Jessie Mark said. "There's drama because one person always wants more."
Shanahan led the presentation "Love on the Quad: Romantic Relationships," Saturday to an audience of Duke's Half-Century Club members, who attended the event as a part of Homecoming Weekend activities. In a cross-disciplinary research study, Shanahan examined the changing relationships among students at Duke and other college campuses, along with the concept of a "hook-up" and its effects on student interaction.
"Popular press has become obsessed with the hook-up culture of young people," she said.
According to a report produced for the Independent Women's Forum in 2001, 91 percent of college women surveyed on campuses nationwide described their school as having a "salient hook-up culture," Shanahan added. Other surveys found that approximately 70 to 80 percent of college students engaged in intercourse with a casual sex partner during the previous year.
The study aims not only to define "hook-up," but also to understand how students' environments affect their decisions and perceptions of relationships.
"We are just getting underway with our systematic work at Duke-so much is still speculative," Shanahan said. "[In the winter] we hope to bring the survey findings back to the students to think them through."
Some Half-Century Club audience members such as Tom Cottingham, Trinity '37, said they found the statistics "fascinating." For an audience familiar with the transient relationships of past campus culture, the prevalence of a casual romantic interaction is still surprising, he said.
A few current Duke students said, however, that they are not at all surprised.
"I don't really know anyone who is in a relationship with someone here," freshman Jessie Mark said. "There's drama because one person always wants more."
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