Divorcing Commitment: Examining the Role of Parental Divorce in Undergraduates’ Friends with Benefits Relationships
Divorce, Separation, and Remarriage: The Transformation of Family
ISBN: 978-1-78635-230-9, eISBN: 978-1-78635-229-3
Publication date: 29 September 2016
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate how parental divorce and gender might influence the likelihood of engaging in a friends with benefits relationship (FWBR), and the likelihood of binge drinking and unprotected sex practices.
Methodology/approach
Using self-report measures, 99 undergraduates shared their parental marital history, experiences with FWBRs, and health risk behaviors.
Findings
Men, as compared with women, reported significantly more FWBRs as did participants with divorced/separated parents, as compared with those with married parents. Participants who had engaged in an FWBR reported significantly more binge drinking than those with no prior FWBR experience; however, no differences were found for gender or parental marital status. No significant differences emerged regarding the prevalence of unprotected sex.
Research limitations/implications
The current study employed the use of self-report surveys, which can be subject to social desirability. All participants were recruited from a single liberal arts college with a limited sample of men with divorced or separated parents.
Originality/value
Using mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) to explore young adults’ predictors and outcomes of engaging in FWBRs provided unique insights into how gender and parental relationships influence both casual sex and health-related behaviors.
Keywords
Citation
Scott, C.L., Hash, J.M., Stevens, P. and Tejada, T. (2016), "Divorcing Commitment: Examining the Role of Parental Divorce in Undergraduates’ Friends with Benefits Relationships", Divorce, Separation, and Remarriage: The Transformation of Family (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 229-250. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-353520160000010009
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited