Hooking Up and Risk Behaviors Among First Semester College Men: What is the Role of Precollege Experience?

Some scholars assert that a hookup culture exists on college campuses and that individuals who attend college are socialized into a hookup script. This study examines hooking up among first-semester college men (N = 158), with specific attention to precollege heavy episodic drinking (i.e., binge drinking) and precollege hookup experience. We found that freshman men begin a pattern of hooking up well before attending college. After controlling for known correlates of hooking up, men had more hookup partners during their first semester at college if they engaged in greater levels of precollege binge drinking and had greater precollege hookup experience. Men were also more likely to have penetrative sex hookups (i.e., oral sex and/or intercourse) if they had done so prior to college. Precollege binge drinking and precollege hookup experience were also associated with unplanned sexual activity when drinking, and men were more likely to have unprotected sex when drinking during their first semester if they engaged in more frequent precollege binge drinking. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.