Negative affect as a moderator of the relationship between hookup motives and hookup consequences

ABSTRACT

Objective: The current study examined the extent to which negative affect moderates the relationships between distinct hookup motives and hookup consequences. Participants: Data were collected from 271 heavy-drinking undergraduate college students. Methods: Students from 3 US universities completed online surveys assessing hooking up–related motives, behaviors, and consequences. Results: The results showed that conformity motives to hookup and negative affect predicted hookup consequences. Furthermore, negative affect moderated the relationship between hooking up for relationship reasons and hookup consequences. Specifically, among students with high negative affect, hooking up to secure a long-term relationship was positively associated with hookup consequences whereas among students with low negative affect, securing a long-term relationship was negatively associated with hookup consequences. Conclusions: These findings highlight the role that motives and negative affect play in the prediction of negative hookup consequences. Moreover, the findings from the current study have the potential to inform prevention efforts designed to reduce hookup consequences.

KEYWORDS:

• Hookup consequences
• hookup motives
• negative affect

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Boards of the participating universities.

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health under awards R01AA014576, T32AA018108 (Montes), and T32AA007459 (Kenney). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIAAA or the National Institutes of Health.