Is Casual Dating Good for Relationships

Is Casual Dating Good for Relationships Relationships Print Is Casual Dating Good for Relationships? By Anabelle Bernard Fournier Updated on January 31, 2020 Westend61 / Getty Images More in Relationships Spouses & Partners LGBTQ Violence and Abuse Relationship scientists define casual dating as dating and sexual behavior outside of a long-term romantic relationship, and it is a common relationship among teenagers and young adults. In other words, casual dating is dating someone and possibly having sex with them when you are not engaged, married, or otherwise in a long-term commitment. Casual dating is not the same as hooking up, even though they have many things in common. Casual dating implies a desire to maintain a relationship, even though it is deemed casual. Hooking up, on the other hand, does not necessarily demand an emotional commitment on any level. Depending on your age and particular upbringing, you might consider casual dating a fun way to socialize, a stepping stone towards a more long-term relationship, or an immoral relationship because of its extramarital sex component (if sex is occurring). Many proponents of traditional marriage denounce casual dating as harmful and a precursor of divorce. Is it true that casual dating is harmful in the long term? Casual Dating and Divorce Relationship psychologists and sociologists have long believed that casual dating and cohabitation before marriage leads to higher divorce rates. However, the connection is difficult to establish on its own (there are lots of possible confounding factors), and there are many studies that show the opposite trend. How you ask questions and to whom you ask questions about casual dating deeply influence the type of results you get on this topic. If you ask happy couples in both casual and married relationships, they will both show similar patterns in satisfaction and happiness. The same goes for unhappy couples. In other words, evidence that shows couples as less happy and more likely to divorce could be a result of the specific couple and not the relationship style. Casual dating may or may not lead to more divorce rates in the future, depending on the person you are dating and the likelihood of a long-term relationship. Scientists cant quite agree. Are Casual Relationships Less Satisfactory? Another common effect attributed to casual dating is that these non-committed, casual relationships are less satisfying than more traditional, committed relationships. On the side of sexual satisfaction, a study published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality found that although sexual satisfaction was higher for people in married, engaged, or exclusive relationships, there was still a positive link between casual dating and sexual satisfaction. Casual dating doesnt lead to unhappy sex life. What about general satisfaction with the relationship as a whole? The picture gets a little more complicated here. If you dont expect a future with the person you are dating, your relationship satisfaction will be lower than that of cohabiting, engaged or married relationships. If you do hope that your casual dating relationship will turn into something more long-term, then your satisfaction will be the same as that of cohabiting or married couples. It all depends on whether you feel the relationship is coming to an end or is in danger. Overall, if your expectations and attitudes towards casual dating are positive, its likely that youll be happy with your relationship and your sex life. Does Casual Dating Lead to Poor Mental Health? Some people also believe that casual dating leads to negative psychological effects such as low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. Myths about the negative effects of casual dating and hooking up, especially for women, abound. What does the science say? On the topic of hooking up, research over one year with undergraduate students in the United States showed that only when people hooked up for non-autonomous (I didnt choose this) reasons had lower self-esteem, higher depression and anxiety, and more physical symptoms. In other words, when a person hooked up because of peer pressure, or because they couldnt consent (being under the influence of drugs or alcohol), it made them less happy. However, the participants who hooked up because they wanted to (autonomous) were just as happy as the students who didnt hook up at all. Whether hooking up and casual dating hurt people mentally depends on their own personal desires and attitudes towards these relationship styles. If you think that hooking up and casual dating is wrong, engaging in these things will make you feel bad. If you think that they are fun ways to meet people and explore future relationships, you will feel happy. It all depends on your point of view. Casual Dating in Relationship Progression If you dont think that casual dating is wrong or immoral, then you are likely to find this kind of relationship satisfying. More interestingly, researchers have begun considering casual dating as a step in a progressive relationship that eventually leads to long-term commitment or marriage. In a world where traditional marriage is retreating, people use casual dating as a way to test sexual and relationship compatibility with partners. In other words, casual dating tends to be an early step toward long-term partnerships. These relationships often begin with a meeting or even hooking up. The two people may start going on dates, perhaps not exclusively at first. If there is compatibility, people then tend to become exclusive, move in together, and eventually marry and have children. The difference between todays casual dating and the dating styles of previous generations is that now, casual dating more openly involves extramarital sex. This may be why older, more conservative groups tend to denounce casual dating as undesirable. However, since the non-marital, casual sex is widely accepted in modern societies, this attitude is less influential than it used to be. A Word From Verywell Casual dating will hurt you only if you are doing it against your will, if you have no hope for a future with the person, or if you think it is immoral. If you enjoy the sense of freedom that comes with developing relationships with a potential partner and testing the waters before making a commitment, casual dating is one step towards finding a person to possibly form a long-term commitment with in the future.