What percentage of college graduates have never had a romantic relationship?
2 Answers
I was curious about this as well, so I decided to do a little research. I've included citations where possible!
We could ask about statistics on dating, or we could ask about "romantic relationships." Because it's harder to define what exactly a "romantic relationship" is, I figured it would be easier to find statistics on dating. Even easier, maybe we can find statistics on hookups and go from there.
Here are some numbers! Let's start with hookups, then dating:
Hookups:
Dating vs. Hookups:
Approximating based on the above evidence, the average college student has probably had about 3-4 dates in their entire college career.
Ok, now the real question: How many college students have had relationships, and how many haven't? These statistics aren't as readily available, probably because relationship information isn't usually as medically relevant as sexual activity.
Let's see if we can't piece it out from other facts:
Let's assume the following equation:
College students who have not been in a relationship =
= 37.1%.
About 37% of college graduates have not had romantic relationships.
Note that this is an upper bound; based on the calculations above, it seems likely that we may be overestimating. That's because this isn't perfect math; there are two pretty big assumptions that we have to make:
Please let me know if it seems like my math is off! :)
Citations
1. More college 'hookups,' but more virgins, too (USA Today)
2. Sexual hook-up culture (American Psychological Association)
3. The Truth About College Hookups | TIME.com (TIME magazine)
4. Hooking up or dating: Who benefits? (Science Daily)
5. More college students hook up than actually date, but most prefer to date (Washington Post)
6. Most Americans have had premarital sex, study finds (USA Today)
7. 4 Cool Statistics About Abstinence in the USA (waitingtillmarriage.org)
We could ask about statistics on dating, or we could ask about "romantic relationships." Because it's harder to define what exactly a "romantic relationship" is, I figured it would be easier to find statistics on dating. Even easier, maybe we can find statistics on hookups and go from there.
Here are some numbers! Let's start with hookups, then dating:
Hookups:
- Recent work done by sociologist Paula England at Stanford University shows that men, on average have had about 10 hookups by senior year, whereas women have had about 7 hookups by senior year. (1) About 60-80% of college students in North America have had a hookup experience. (2)
- One study shows that on average, women and men have about 5-7 hookups in their college career. (3)
Dating vs. Hookups:
- Psychologists at James Madison University (4) found that on average, college students tend to hook up twice as much as they date (5)
Approximating based on the above evidence, the average college student has probably had about 3-4 dates in their entire college career.
Ok, now the real question: How many college students have had relationships, and how many haven't? These statistics aren't as readily available, probably because relationship information isn't usually as medically relevant as sexual activity.
Let's see if we can't piece it out from other facts:
- About 3-5% of Americans abstain from sex until marriage. (6, 7)
- About 24% of college students remain abstinent through college. (1,3) Note that this is consistent with our previously found statistics.
- 95 percent of men and 77.5 percent of women would prefer to date over hooking up (5)
Let's assume the following equation:
College students who have not been in a relationship =
- (students who remain abstinent = 24%) -
- (students who are waiting until marriage = ~4%) +
- (students who are sexually active but don't want a relationship = (100% - 77.5%) * 76% = 17.1%)
= 37.1%.
About 37% of college graduates have not had romantic relationships.
Note that this is an upper bound; based on the calculations above, it seems likely that we may be overestimating. That's because this isn't perfect math; there are two pretty big assumptions that we have to make:
- Students who are in relationships are sexually active unless they are waiting until marriage.
- Anyone who is sexually active but wants to date will eventually date (as is usually the case), and this is lower-bounded at about 77.5% of all sexually active people (the percentage of women who would prefer to date over hooking up) even though it could potentially be larger.
Please let me know if it seems like my math is off! :)
Citations
1. More college 'hookups,' but more virgins, too (USA Today)
2. Sexual hook-up culture (American Psychological Association)
3. The Truth About College Hookups | TIME.com (TIME magazine)
4. Hooking up or dating: Who benefits? (Science Daily)
5. More college students hook up than actually date, but most prefer to date (Washington Post)
6. Most Americans have had premarital sex, study finds (USA Today)
7. 4 Cool Statistics About Abstinence in the USA (waitingtillmarriage.org)
