Casual dating

For causal relationship, see causality.

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Casual dating or a casual relationship is a physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have casual sex or a near-sexual relationship while staying loyal to each other without necessarily demanding or expecting the additional commitments of a more formal romantic relationship. Motives for casual relationships vary.[1] There are significant gender and cultural differences in acceptance of and breadth of casual relationships,[2][3][4][5] as well as in regrets about action/inaction in those relationships.[6]

Casual dating may or may not entail partner-exclusivity. In each case, the relationship's dominance in the lives of those involved is being voluntarily limited, and there is usually a sense that the relationship is intended to endure only so long as both parties wish it to. Casual relationships sometimes include mutual support, affection and enjoyment, which underpin other forms of loving relationship.[7]

A casual relationship is sometimes referred to as a "no strings attached" relationship or as a situationship.

  1. ^ Belle, Heather; Michelle Fiordaliso (2009). Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ex*. Sourcebooks Casablanca. ISBN 978-1-4022-2923-7.
  2. ^ Chara PJ, Kuennen LM (February 1994). "Diverging gender attitudes regarding casual sex: a cross-sectional study". Psychol Rep. 74 (1): 57–8. doi:10.2466/pr0.1994.74.1.57. PMID 8153236. S2CID 46533373. Abstract: Students at five educational levels ranging from seventh graders to college seniors were surveyed regarding their attitudes about the acceptability of casual sex. A striking developmental contrast was found: males became increasingly accepting of casual sex; females were consistently opposed to casual sex at all educational levels.
  3. ^ Cubbins LA, Tanfer K (June 2000). "The influence of gender on sex: a study of men's and women's self-reported high-risk sex behavior". Arch Sex Behav. 29 (3): 229–57. doi:10.1023/A:1001963413640. PMID 10992980. S2CID 5746253.
  4. ^ Welsh DP, Grello CM, Harper MS (August 2006). "No strings attached: the nature of casual sex in college students" (PDF). J Sex Res. 43 (3): 255–67. doi:10.1080/00224490609552324. PMID 17599248. S2CID 29600116. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-02-24.
  5. ^ Gwen J. Broude, 'Male-Female Relationships in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Study of Sex and Intimacy' Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 18, No. 2, 154–181 (1983) Abstract: Societies are neither entirely consistent nor entirely arbitrary in their patterning of heterosexual relationships. This research suggests that sexual relationships, and male sexual orientation are not highly related to each other.
  6. ^ Roese NJ, Pennington GL, Coleman J, Janicki M, Li NP, Kenrick DT (June 2006). "Sex differences in regret: all for love or some for lust?". Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 32 (6): 770–80. doi:10.1177/0146167206286709. PMC 2293329. PMID 16648202. Abstract: within romantic relationships, men emphasize regrets of inaction over action, whereas women report regrets of inaction and action with equivalent frequency. Sex differences were not evident in other interpersonal regrets (friendship, parental, sibling interactions) and were not moderated by relationship status
  7. ^ Corbett, Sherry; Sherwin, Robert (1985). "Campus sexual norms and dating relationships: A trend analysis". The Journal of Sex Research. 21 (3): 258–274. doi:10.1080/00224498509551266.