Michael Braun's Blog

NPR’s Morning Edition ran a story this morning about how young people no longer date, but instead “hook up” – engaging in consensual sexual activity (from cuddling to sex) as a precursor for a relationship. We’ve heard this before (indeed, I’ve commented on it before, see here).

I still don’t buy their claims. This story, like Blow’s commentary, feature information from the same professor (Kathleen Bogle) at La Salle University (which, according to their website, is guided by their Catholic principles); I haven’t seen her data, so I don’t know if the media reporting on her writing and research can be trusted. Without the data, the news stories are driven by anecdotal evidence. That means there are a lot of questions we don’t know the answer to. Here are some.

1. How do different parts of the country differ? It’s not shocking that the NPR story featured people from the East Coast. It’s most accessible to reporters. But what we don’t know is whether trends in New York City or Boston are reflected in the Midwest or elsewhere. If hooking up has to do with the social fabric (which it most certainly does), then in stands to reason that different social fabrics would produce differing levels of hook-ups. If New York tends to be filled with hard working people who have less time for a relationship than another part of the country, then we should see increased levels of hook-ups in NYC than in other places. But this information is not represented in the reporting on the topic.

2. What are the demographic characteristics of those who are “hooking up”? Some people hook up and some people don’t, yet we don’t know anything about these two groups. It’s interesting either way – for example, if religious and non-religious people hook up just as much – but until we see the information, we can’t say. Thus, it’s entirely possible that those people who hook-up are somehow deficient in their emotional abilities. Or perhaps they are devoid of morals. Or perhaps they have insatiable sex drives. Or perhaps they seek physical comfort. Who knows? The media has avoided reporting this type of information.

3. What does this mean for society? Humankind wants sex. We hunger for it. That is today as it ever was. So how does seeking sex, coupled with a changing social fabric, stand to impact our society? Without the answer to this question, we have no reason to be concerned about hook-ups. The Religious Right, who I have previously blamed for this type of reporting and research, would argue that it’s proof our society is deteriorating. I think we can all agree to remain healthily skeptical of their claims.

4. Is this “trend” anything new? The answer to this, from Prof. Bogle herself, seems to be “no.” She argues, in a publication, that past research has ignored hook ups and focused on dating, thus ignoring something that has been common for some time now. In my past writing on this topic, I pointed to Sinclair Lewis’ novel It Can’t Happen Here, in which the protaganist asks his teenage daughter if she has had sex yet. She says no, but that she will when an opportunity arises. The book was published and set in the mid 1930s.

The fact remains that anecdotal evidence is easily countered with more anecdotal evidence. The people in the story were 25 and hooking up. Lauren’s friends at that age or younger are mostly married or in long term relationships. Yet we don’t know if either the media’s group or Lauren’s friend group is representative of the nation as a whole. The problem in both cases is that we look for evidence to support a theory and, no surprise, find some.

The NPR story cites only one piece of data – the rising age of first marriages. It’s higher than it’s ever been before, but this hardly serves as evidence for increased hook ups. Once again, it has to do with a changing social fabric. Men and women are both expected to work, both expected to go to college, both expected to make something of themselves before “settling down.” Couple this with increased tolerance for cohabitation and you have a rising average age for first marriage.

Now, if data showed that significantly more people were likely to eschew marriage and be single for their whole lives, then that would be data that might explain rising hook ups. But even the people in the NPR story said they wanted a relationship, rather than just hook ups.

Media – this is a challenge to you. You need to stop reporting on this issue because it’s titillating and start reporting on whether or not this “trend” is a change from the past and how it might impact society as a whole. And Researchers, including Prof. Bogle, you need to do a better job explaining and marketing your research. Taking a call from a reporter and answering their questions is not enough. Until this happens, we can expect plenty more fluff pieces about how young people no longer date.