Negative affect as a moderator of the relationship between hookup motives and hookup consequences

Abstract

Objective The current study examined the extent to which negative affect moderates the relationships between distinct hookup motives and hookup consequences. Participants Data were collected from 271 heavy drinking undergraduate college students. Methods Students from three U.S. universities completed online surveys assessing hooking up related motives, behaviors, and consequences. Results The results showed that conformity motives to hookup and negative affect predicted hookup consequences. Furthermore, negative affect moderated the relationship between hooking up for relationship reasons and hookup consequences. Specifically, heightened motivation to hookup to secure a long-term relationship was associated with increased hookup consequences among students with high negative affect but decreased hookup consequences among students with low negative affect. Conclusions These findings highlight the role that motives and negative affect play in the prediction of negative hookup consequences. Moreover, the findings from the current study have the potential to inform prevention efforts designed to reduce hookup consequences.

Our Right to the Pleasure of Falling in Love

“…It is also consistent with other studies (Pedersen et al, 2017), in which participants, through their narratives, share that having wild experiences to recount to friends is important to them. In addition, the fact that all young women in M2 recall engaging in sexual-affective relationships that they did not enjoy or choosing partners who they did not like is also in accordance with studies (Montes et al, 2016(Montes et al, , 2017 showing that students experiencing peer pressure to engage in casual relationships seem more susceptible to adverse outcomes related to hooking up.…”

“…Therefore, gratification and pleasure in these cases seems to be related to the perceived social status. In addition, several studies show that students who felt pressured by their peers to engage in casual relationships seemed more susceptible to adverse outcomes related to hooking up, as well as were those hooking up with multiple partners (Montes et al, 2016(Montes et al, , 2017.…”

The Relationship Between Perceived Hookup Attitudes and Negative Hookup Consequences: Do Perceived Attitudes of Close Friends Matter?

“…Whether students prefer relief from negative affect at the cost of experiencing negative hookup consequences is an interesting question that future research is needed to address. Although conformity hookup motives were not found to be predictive of negative hookup consequences in the current study, conformity hookup motives have been found to be positively associated with negative hookup consequences (Montes et al, 2016). Taken together, these findings suggest that negatively reinforcing hookup motives (i.e., coping and conformity) may be important predictors of negative hookup consequences.…”

“…Some of the consequences that students experienced as a result of hooking up included: regret, embarrassment, disappointment, sexual dissatisfaction, and the contracting of a sexually transmitted infection (STI; Bachtel, 2013; Napper et al, 2015; Tomsich, Schaible, Marie Rennison, & Gover, 2013). To better understand the conditions under which negative hookup outcomes are experienced, researchers have examined predictors and moderators of negative hookup consequences, including attitudes, motives, negative affect, and attachment style (e.g., Lewis et al, 2012; Montes, Napper, Froidevaux, Kenney, & LaBrie, 2016; Owen et al, 2014). An important predictor which has received scant research attention in the hookup literature is injunctive norms.…”

Emotional Outcomes of Casual Sexual Relationships and Experiences: A Systematic Review

“…Relationship-focused motives such as entering a CSRE with the goal of forming a romantic relationship were associated with more negative emotional reactions in studies of both Canadian and American college students (Gusarova et al, 2012;Montes et al, 2016). Individuals with avoidant motives such as coping or conformity also tended to experience more negative subjective emotional reactions (Montes et al, 2017(Montes et al, , 2016, and individuals with non-autonomous motives tended to have lower self-esteem (Vrangalova, 2015a).…”