Queering Hookup Motives in a Diverse Sample of LGBTQ+ Young Adults.

There is a paucity of research on hookup motives among LGBTQ+ young adults, despite the importance of such sexual encounters for the development of LGBTQ+ young adults' identities. In this study, we examined the hookup motives of a diverse sample of LGBTQ+ young adults through in-depth qualitative interviews. Interviews were conducted with 51 LGBTQ+ young adults across college campuses at three sites in North America. We asked participants, " What sorts of things motivate you to hook up ?" and " Why do you hook up ?" Six distinct hookup motives emerged from participants' responses. They included: a) pleasure/enhancement , b) intimacy and social-relationship motives , c) self-affirmation , d) coping , e) cultural norms and easy access , and f) multifaceted motives . While some of our themes cohered with previously identified hookup motives among heterosexual samples, LGBTQ+ young adults identified new and distinct motives that illustrate major differences between their hookup experiences and that of heterosexual young adults. For example, LGBTQ+ young adults were motivated to pleasure their hookup partner, not just themselves. They were also motivated by cultural norms within the queer community, easy access to hookup partners , and multifaceted motives . There is a need for data-driven ways to conceptualize hookup motives among LGBTQ+ young adults, instead of unquestioningly using heterosexual templates for understanding why LGBTQ+ individuals hook up.