Romantic Partners, Friends, Friends with Benefits, And Casual Acquaintances As Sexual Partners‪.‬

Most research on sexual behavior has not considered the nature of the relationship in which it occurs. When the context of the relationship has been considered, the research has focused on sexual behavior in romantic relationships or some subset of romantic relationships, such as marriages or cohabitating couples (e.g., Kaestle & Halpern, 2007; O'Sullivan, Mantsun, Harris, & Brooks-Gunn, 2007). Yet, the sexual behavior of young adults and adolescents often occurs in other contexts. Such sexual activity has been commonly described as casual sex, nonromantic sexual behavior, or "hookups." The details of the definitions vary, but they have the common denominator of referring to sexual behavior in uncommitted relationships (Weaver & Herold, 2000). Sexual intercourse usually occurs first in a romantic or committed relationship, but approximately 25% of the time, it first occurs with a friend, stranger, or someone the person is occasionally dating (Elo, King, & Furstenberg, 1999; Manning, Longmore, & Giordano, 2000). Moreover, approximately one half of sexually active adolescents have had intercourse with a nonromantic partner (Grello, Welsh, & Harper, 2006; Manning, Giordano, & Longmore, 2006; Manning, Longmore, & Giordano, 2005). About one half of these incidents with a nonromantic partner occurred only once (Manning et al., 2006). Similarly, approximately 75% to 80% of college students reported "hooking up" or engaging in some form of sexual activity with someone for just one night (England, Shafer, & Fogarty, 2008; Paul, McManus, & Hayes, 2000); 30% reported hooking up with someone for the night and having intercourse (Paul et al., 2000).