It is no secret that a large percentage of college students do not want to be tied down to a significant other. Many take a sort of "hit-and-run" approach in their encounters with the opposite sex, preferring quantity over quality and eschewing monogamy.
In light of recent research, the co-ed approach to relationships may not be as unusual as parents and grandparents might have their children believe. A recent article from LiveScience.com suggests humans are not meant to be monogamous.
Jane Lancaster, evolutionary anthropologist at the University of New Mexico, said humans are in committed relationships mainly for the purpose of raising children.
"Many monogamous marriages are not sexually monogamous but they represent the commitment of men and women to raise children together," Lancaster said. "In dating relationships and in living-together relationships, they [humans] may be superficially monogamous."
When children are not involved, there is nothing beyond a mutual commitment between those involved in the relationship to ensure their fidelity, she said.
Jean-Phillipe Laurenceau, associate professor of psychology at the university, said humans often choose the socially acceptable alternative to their animal instincts.
"It's our frontal lobes that help us put off our needs for instant gratification," Laurenceau said. "Ultimately, if you want to have a successful relationship, you're going to have to make a decision that maintaining a particular relationship is more important than the freedom that comes with having sex with whomever you want whenever it happens to be available."
Despite the apparent human tendency to stray, there is no reason to live in constant fear of significant others being unfaithful, he said.
Considering some students spend at least part of their weekends partying, the college environment is not necessarily conducive to maintaining a relationship with only one individual. In addition, the high volume of new people college students encounter may explain why many are often reluctant to engage in sexually monogamous relationships, according to some students.
Freshman Meredith Rubin said she believes students should date more than one person.
"I think that people should have experiences because that's the only way you're going to know who you really are and who you want to be with," Rubin said.
Freshman Lindsey Cheney said she thinks monogamous relationships in college are both possible and positive endeavors.
"I personally believe that relationships kick ass. Not everyone is just into the whole hook-up-and-run thing," Cheney said. "It's just about finding the one person that you want to spend the rest of your life in a monogamous relationship with."
Daniel Kruger, social and evolutionary psychologist at the University of Michigan, said when looking for a mate, women tend to seek out powerful, high-status men, which may offer some credibility for the idea of the "big man on campus."
"Particularly in short-term relationships, women find high status men more attractive," Kruger said. "People are social status and position conscious, even in college."
Although the average female student might not be thinking about her future children when she goes out for a night on the town, there is evidence to suggest women go after high-status men because of a biological drive to provide for their offspring, Laurenceau said. Conversely, a bunch of males in a bar fight may actually be trying to assert their social dominance in order to attract a mate.
He said humans are influenced by their biological drives and while they may not be meant to be monogamous, for the sake of their reputations and relationships, most will ignore their animal instincts.
"We don't have to follow these latent pulls to letting our drives override any kind of social and moral guidelines we live our lives by," Laurenceau said.
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