SouthFlorida.com | Teen Link South Florida

Many of our parents and grandparents met and dated, then married.

Today, things are different. Teens meet and often hook up, but rarely date, saving relationships and marriage for the future.

Despite its prevalance, no one can agree on an exact definition. "Hooking up just means people getting with other people and kissing or having sex just to do it," St. Thomas Aquinas senior Carrie Wilson said.

Stoneman Douglas High sophomore Kristin Lennertz said it is more specific. "Hooking up is making out."

In the book "Unhooked: How Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both," author Laura Sessions Stepp describes the impact of hooking up and its lasting emotional effects on some young women.

She followed nine female students for her book, some in high school and some in college, as they hooked up with different guys.

Stepp found that many parents were providing their children with the same, specific advice: Education comes before everything else, including relationships.

Teens have taken this to heart, often deciding that relationships are outdated and time-consuming.

According to former South Plantation High guidance counselor Karen Morrison, hooking up can cause a lot of emotional damage.

"Sometimes, students will try to pursue making it a dating relationship, in order to save face," she said.

And there is a reason to want to "save face." Hooking up leads to rumors and gossip.

"I have seen a couple of my friends get hurt by hookups. It gave them the reputation of being sluts, which wasn't the case," Wilson said. "Hooking up is just a mistake that most people make hoping that something will come out of it. Instead, it just ruins friendships."

Pembroke Pines Charter 2011 graduate Samantha Selvin agreed.

"Hooking up results in name calling, not to mention the hurt it causes. You end up falling for that person, but they just use you and don't care at all," she said.

Feelings aren't the only things that can get hurt.

"You have to protect your reputation," American Heritage guidance counselor Sharon Bikoundu said. "One thing leads to another. It is up to you to make wise choices."

Because of the frequency of hookups among students, staffs and faculties at some colleges have become involved in encouraging dating and relationships among students.

A Deerfield Beach High alumnus and current philosophy professor at Boston College, Dr. Mary Troxell, is one example.

"From my discussions with students over the years, I have witnessed the damage of the hook-up culture. Not only does it impede students' abilities to develop healthy romantic relationships, but it also makes women more vulnerable to sexual assault. It is clear to me that no one is really happy with the hook-up culture, but it is hard to act against such a dominant social norm."