Divorcing Commitment: Examining the Role of Parental Divorce in Undergraduates’ Friends with Benefits Relationships

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.

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