Research article summary (published 29 Apr 2003):

Pluralistic ignorance and hooking up.

Full Abstract

Hooking up--when two people agree to engage in sexual behavior for which there is no future commitment--has become popular on college campuses. In this study we examined the extent to which pluralistic ignorance affects hooking up. One hundred thirty-six female and 128 male college students answered questions regarding their own comfort and their perceived peers comfort in engaging in a variety of sexual behaviors while hooking up. We hypothesized and found that both women and men rated their peers as being more comfortable engaging in these behaviors than they rated themselves. Men expressed more comfort than did women in engaging in these behaviors, and both sexes overestimated the other gender s comfort with hooking up behaviors. Pluralistic ignorance appears to apply to hooking up on college campuses, and we explore some potential consequences of pluralistic ignorance in this context.

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Author information

Author/s: Lambert, Tracy A (TA); Kahn, Arnold S (AS); Apple, Kevin J (KJ);

Affiliation: James Madison University, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of sex research (J Sex Res), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-May; vol 40 (issue 2) : pp 129-33

Dates: Created 2003/08/08; Completed 2003/08/29; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12908120, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult Female Humans Male Men - psychology Peer Group Questionnaires

Questionnaires Sexual Behavior - psychology Sexual Partners - psychology Students - psychology United States Universities Women - psychology

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