Sociological Research: Physical intimacy with strangers leads to Depression, Anxiety, low self-esteem
"As we predicted, people who engaged in more hookups had greater psychological distress. College students who recently engaged in casual sex reported lower levels of self-esteem, life-satisfaction, and happiness compared to those students who did not have casual sex in the past month. On the distress side of the equation, similarly, students who recently engaged in hookups had higher distress scores as indicated by levels of depression and anxiety. In contrast to the notion that men are okay with casual sex but women are not, we did not find sex differences in the relationships between casual sex and either distress or well-being. For both men and women engaging in true hookup sex, meaning with a casual stranger rather than a romantic partner or, even, “friend with benefits,” seemed to bode poorly for mental health and self-esteem. " http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/ 201303/sexual-hookups-and-psychological-health http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201303/sexual-hookups-and-psychological-health "In the first study to investigate the issue of self-esteem and hookups, both men and women who had ever engaged in an uncommitted sexual encounter had lower overall self-esteem scores compared with those without uncommitted sexual experiences (Paul et al., 2000). The potential causal direction of the relationship between self-esteem and uncommitted sex is yet unclear (Fielder & Carey, 2010; Paul et al., 2000)." http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/02/ce-corner.aspx http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/02/ce-corner.aspx "Casual sex has been glamorized in movies and on television. Casual sex websites, often accompanied with porn material, make it easy for partners to hook up. The philosophy underlying all this hype is that marriage is out; casual sex is harmless fun; everyone is doing it. This is a seriously flawed philosophy. The psychological risks are minimized. The threat of possible psychological damage is ignored. New research links casual sex to negative well-being, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of anxiety and depression..." http://blog.womenshealthmag.com/scoop/casual-sex/ http://blog.womenshealthmag.com/scoop/casual-sex/
