Queering Hookup Motives in a Diverse Sample of LGBTQ+ Young Adults

ABSTRACT

There is a paucity of research on hookup motives among LGBTQ+ young adults, despite the importance of such sexual encounters for the development of LGBTQ+ young adults’ identities. In this study, we examined the hookup motives of a diverse sample of LGBTQ+ young adults through in-depth qualitative interviews. Interviews were conducted with 51 LGBTQ+ young adults across college campuses at three sites in North America. We asked participants, “What sorts of things motivate you to hook up?” and “Why do you hook up?” Six distinct hookup motives emerged from participants’ responses. They included: a) pleasure/enhancement, b) intimacy and social-relationship motives, c) self-affirmation, d) coping, e) cultural norms and easy access, and f) multifaceted motives. While some of our themes cohered with previously identified hookup motives among heterosexual samples, LGBTQ+ young adults identified new and distinct motives that illustrate major differences between their hookup experiences and that of heterosexual young adults. For example, LGBTQ+ young adults were motivated to pleasure their hookup partner, not just themselves. They were also motivated by cultural norms within the queer community, easy access to hookup partners, and multifaceted motives. There is a need for data-driven ways to conceptualize hookup motives among LGBTQ+ young adults, instead of unquestioningly using heterosexual templates for understanding why LGBTQ+ individuals hook up.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like extend a special thanks to all of the research participants for taking the time to share details about their personal lives with us. Dr. Snapp would like to thank the State of California for providing research start-up funds that supported participant remuneration, as well as the University Research Opportunities Center at CSUMB who funded student research assistants in her lab. We would also like to thank previous research assistants in Dr. Snapp’s lab who helped with data collection, analysis, and/or writing of earlier versions of this work. They include: Nicollette Clark, Nyalock Nhial, Samantha Gonzalez, Jorge Covarrubias, Jazmin Luna, Vanessa Moreno, Mauricio Procopio, Xochitl Saldana, Eva Bernal Campos, Jessica Uhlenhop, Danielle Flores, and Bryana Azevedo.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported through funding by the National Institutes of Drug Abuse [grant K01DA047918] awarded to Dr. Watson. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.