Accidentally Attached: What College Students Say About “Just Talking” Compared to How Their Relationships Unfold

Authors: Sarah Kramer, Isabella Ring, Brianna Barzola, Michelle Zhang, Lexi Spiegelman, Jason Tran, Hannah Pitkofsky

Field of Study: Social Sciences

Program Affiliation: Binghamton Human Sexualities Lab

Faculty Mentors: Melissa Hardesty

Easel: 66

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: “Just Talking” is a novel strategy commonly used by young adults to describe and maintain their sexual and romantic relationships. To better understand the dynamics of “Just Talking” relationships, an interview series was conducted with 17 volunteers who classified themselves as “Just Talking” with one or more individuals. All participants completed three separate semi-structured interviews spaced three to four weeks apart, each varying in length. Through inductive analysis of patterned behaviors and practices described by the interviewees, six clusters of “Dyad Dynamics” among participants were identified. These clusters represented the degree of social and sexual monogamy within the “Just Talking” phenomenon. By comparing participants' expectations and understandings of “Just Talking,” as described at the start of their interview series, with their “Dyad Dynamics” (i.e. reality), the distinction between college students’ expectations of “Just Talking” relationships and their actual experiences was better understood.