User:Tylerd57/sandbox

=College Relationships=

Introduction
College is a transition period in which many young individuals are introduced to new people and exciting new things. Different surroundings and new activities provide the the opportunity to meet potential romantic or sexual prospects. Since the 2000s, college relationships have been heavily discussed in social media and put into public spotlight. There are many classifications of relationships in college. Some of the most common relationships being discussed are:


 * Long Distance Relationships (LDR’s)
 * Open Relationships
 * Hook ups/One Night Stands
 * Tinder Matches
 * Casual Relationships (Friends With Benefits)

Long Distance and its Sub Sections
Long distance relationships, also known as LDR’s, are romantic relationships between two people who live far apart from each other. In college, people emphasize it is more difficult than a standard relationship because of the physical distance between both partners. Geographically, relationships between two people that are more than 125 miles apart are considered to be long distance. The Students’ Center of Health at West Virginia University found between 25% and 40% of all romantic relationships in college are LDRs.^ Also, according to research from the June 2013 Journal of Communication, almost 75% of college students have participated in a LDR at some point during their college career^

Multiple therapists at The Former Center for the Study of Long Distance Relationships^ recommend frequent face-to-face visits for a long distance relationship to succeed. On average, couples should visit each other 1 to 2 times per month; however the distance apart will affect how often the visiting occurs. Without visiting physically, couples usually call each other about every 2 and a half days. The more connection via social media and physical contact, the better chance the LDR has to work out. Emma Dargie and researchers at Queens University as well as the University of Utah, surveyed 717 people, testing the quality of people in a long distance relationship by having the participants rate the intimacy, commitment, communication, relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction and sexual communication of their relationship. She also states in the June 2013 Journal of Communication, “The media portrays long distance relationships as doomed to fail and that your life will be awful. But based on the survey, this was not the case”. The longer a relationship lasts, even over long distance, the greater chance the relationship has to survive. The Centre for the Study of Long Distance Relationships ^ gives statistics that provide the percentages of break ups over a certain amount of time in a LDR vs. a Proximal Relationship (PR) comparison:


 * 30% PRs vs. 27% LDRs during the first month
 * 21% PRs vs. 37% LDRs during the first 3 months
 * 35% PRs vs. 42% LDRs during the first 6 months
 * 23% PRs vs. 11% LDRs during the first 8 months
 * 25% PRs vs. 8% LDRs during the first year

Open Relationships
Open relationships are defined as a marriage or relationship in which both partners agree that each may have sexual relations with others outside of the agreement. There are many different views on this type of relationship across college campuses and in modern day pop culture. Open relationships are said to be most common among a younger demographic, such as college students ^. There are many reasons for an open relationship. These reasons vary from distance conflicts (the most common reason among college students) to varying sex drive. There are currently no statistics on how many college students are currently in an open relationship; however there are studies that say anywhere between 1 and 9 percent of adults are currently in an open marriage ^. One reason many people shy away from this form of relationship is the stigmas that come along with it. Some of these stigmas include ridicule of the lack of faith, and that an open relationship is not seen as a true relationship with your significant other since they are having sex with other people.

Hookups and Tinder Matches
A hookup is a single sexual encounter between two people. Hookups are casual and do not hold any sort of commitment. College parties have been shown to be a common place for hookups among young people. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette^, there is an almost “shift” in mentalities where people want to “hookup” and not have a meaningful relationship in the new college environment. As a general rule, a hookup does not involve the meaningfulness or intimacy that a traditional relationship would. Hookups are becoming more and more popular in college as people are eager to experience new things.

One aspect that is currently revolutionizing hookups is technology. The advancements in technology have allowed college students to easily keep in contact with their fellow students with social media outlets, constant text messaging and dating applications for their smartphones. For example, Tinder is a smartphone application where users can see people around them, and then “match” with them if both parties feel attracted to each other. According to Tinder’s website ^, once “matched”, users can chat and meet up personally if they so choose. This application allows people to meet each other without any previous physical encounters making hookups more accessible than before. Even the aspect of text messaging has made hookups more easy because people can just send a quick message to each other instead of having to meet face to face. Some people believe hookups are a good thing and others believe that they are bad. There are many different social views on hookups and hook up culture. Many people refer to hooking up as a “part of the college experience” while others in a video published by CBS News stigmatize it and find it “gross”. Hookups provide no significant attachment between the two individuals. More often than not, a hook up is a one night stand.

Casual Relationships: Friends With Benefits
Another common college relationship is a casual relationship in which the two parties meet to have habitual sex (hook up) but retain no emotional attachment. This type of relationship has had a great deal of pop culture references since 2000 with movies such as No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits.

A casual relationship, often referred to as a “friend with benefits” (FWB) relationship, is a sexually motivated mutual agreement to have uncommitted sexual engagement between two or more partners. The agreement usually entails casual sex (any sort of recurring sexual activity outside of a committed relationship) with no strings attached because each partner has decided to settle with being “just friends”. Though they are not in a traditional relationship, the individuals do provide comfort/safety, trust, communication, and advice to their partners. According to Melissa Bisson and Timothy Levine in the "Archives of Sexual Behavior" ^ “FWB relationships are often problematic for the same reasons they are attractive.” Though appealing to many sex-driven young people, there are also some contributing factors that dissuade from this type of uncommitted relationship.

For example, a positive aspect of causal relationships is that they do not require exclusivity, meaning there are no set titles such as boyfriend/girlfriend, and each party is allowed to be sexually involved with other outside parties if they so wish. Friends with benefits have no set commitments like those of a formal or closed relationship. A survey, also published in the journal “Archives of Sexual Behavior” and produced by researchers at Wayne State University and Michigan State University, found that the best, most popular advantage of having a friends with benefits relationship was the lack of commitment. Neither party is pressured into making decisions that make them emotionally or physically uncomfortable since they have virtually no responsibility to the other individual. At a new time in a college student’s life, it is common for a person to not want to be tied down in an official, traditional relationship. Therefore, many students get involved in FWB relationships to not only relieve their desire for sex, but also to create a better, more personal relationship with their new colleagues. The rise in these types of relationships is apparent in results of another survey^ conducted by Eric Rogell and sponsored by Lifestyle Condoms that says more than 42% of students reported to be in a casual or friends with benefits relationship during present time in their college career. Because FWB relationships are based off of a close friendship, survey says that only 9.8% of students are concerned about the “negative consequences” of recreational sex such as STDs and pregnancy concerns ^.

However, the largest reported disadvantage of a causal relationship was the possibility of romantic feelings surfacing from one partner and not being reciprocated by the other. 65% of students agreed that this was the worst disadvantage of a FWB relationship^. When one person starts to develop deeper feelings for the other party, the relationship is either terminated or escalated to a more formal romantic relationship. Casual relationships are more or less a temporary agreement between two people only intended to last for as long as both parties desire. When the relationship comes to an end, there is no “break-up” process-just a mutual understanding that this type of relationship is over. Another common disadvantage is a lack of communication between the two parties. Since the participants are not necessarily intimate on a romantic level, they often do not fully understand the wants and needs of the significant other. Studies have shown that dissatisfaction of recreational or casual sex is a common occurrence during FWB relationships, most likely due to the lack of a serious bond between partners. Since people are actually friends with their friends with benefits outside of the sexual activity, another common disadvantage is the perception that a bad FWB relationship will “harm [a regular] relationship” (28.2%) and “cause negative emotions” (27.4%). that could negatively affect the non-sexual friendship.^

For a final comparison, friends with benefits is similar to hooking up but the difference between the two is that hook ups tend to be more often with a stranger whereas friends with benefits is hooking up with someone you have gotten to know on a consistent basis.

Morality of College Relationships
Though no research has been conducted to show the morality of open relationships, hookups and casual sex relationships in college specifically, societal norms of traditional marriage and older demographic relationships can argumentatively translate well into college relationship morality. For example, polygamy (the marital version of an open relationship) shown in shows such as Sister Wives and other reality TV shows has caused angry citizens around the country to demand “the government to crack down on polygamy” according to CNN^ Polygamy goes against most major religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam which states that marriage is a bond between one man and one woman. However, this also causes a huge controversy for same-sex marriage which is a hot button issue in today’s society. Both issues of polygamy and same-sex marriage are being debated in state and federal governments today. Casual relationships, Tinder relationships and hookups are still relatively new and have not had significant data collection pertaining to the morality of these interactions. Long-distance relationships are morally sound, unless adultery occurs, since LDRs are still committed relationships between partners.