Here’s an interesting article on how Catholic colleges with varying degrees of Catholicity fare against the prevailing hookup culture in America. Not surprisingly, the 2017 study finds that Catholic colleges where at least 80% of students identify the college as Catholic have the best resistance. But surprisingly, Catholic colleges where only 75% of students think the college is Catholic have a greater instance of students engaging in illicit sexual activity than those with only a 68% rating. There are some guesses in the article as to why this might be, but the numbers alone are what is most shocking.
You’ll have to follow the links in the article, sub-articles and studies to get down to the details, but here is the sad commentary on the numbers presented. [Note that the definition of “hookup” includes activity that is illicit and sexual in nature but may not involve sexual intercourse.]
1) 7 in 10 college students “hookup” in the US at large.
2) 3 in 10 college students “hookup” on very Catholic campuses (80% of students there think the college is Catholic, plus some other factors)
3) 6 in 10 college students “hookup” on mostly Catholic campuses (75% internal rating)
4) 5 in 10 college students “hookup” on somewhat Catholic campuses (68% rating)
Given the fallen nature of man, it’s not surprising that there is no category where the hookup rate is 0%. But 3 in 10 at very Catholic colleges is sad. If 3 in 10 students at a particular college randomly got free tuition, they would be inundated with applications. If 3 in 10 students had a communicable disease at a particular college, who would apply? 30% is huge. And I wonder how many Catholic colleges are even in the “very Catholic” category….