Is the Actual Ideal? A Content Analysis of College Students’ Descriptions of Ideal and Actual Hookups

This study examined gender differences in college students’ open-ended descriptions of ideal and actual hookups. Themes for each of the open-ended response questions were coded by two coders. Results are from a sample of undergraduate students (N = 343) and indicate that 35.9 % (N = 61) of the female participants’ descriptions were coded as “very different” between actual and ideal hookups, whereas only 17.2 % (N = 29) of male participants’ descriptions were coded as “very different.” Conversely, 55.6 % (N = 94) of male participants exhibited “no difference” between their actual and ideal descriptions of their hookup experience, whereas 38.2 % (N = 65) of female participants’ descriptions were not discrepant. Both differences were statistically significant. Results for descriptions of ideal hookup partners and communication expectations did not differ by gender.