A Survey of Dating and Marriage at BYU

Studies show that formal dating has all but disappeared from college campuses and has been replaced almost exclusively by "hanging out" and "hooking up""€”a euphemism for anything from kissing to having non-committal sexual encounters. The authors surveyed BYU students to discover if dating and courtship patterns mirror the national trends. They report that while BYU students hang out as much as their national peers, and a few even "hook up," BYU students are much different than students at other schools in their levels of abstinence before marriage, the frequency they go on formal dates in addition to hanging out, and in how highly they prioritize marriage and spirituality in their life goals. The article also discusses reasons BYU students give when they choose to end an exclusive relationship and how BYU students arrive at the decision to marry.