Fifth Year Honours Sociology student Aida Ardelean will be presenting her Honours research paper at the upcoming American Sociological Association general meeting in Philadelphia. Her research, under the supervision of Dr. Sylvia Bartolic, focuses on personal attachment styles in relation to modern-day dating norms and hookup culture. We spoke to her about her work and this opportunity.
How did you decide to focus on hookup culture for your Honours project?
As a sociologist, it is important to notice larger scale patterns. I found that many individuals, regardless of their relationship status, background, or other intersectional factors, shared similar stories of complex trauma they endured in their past relationship, whether romantic, platonic, or familial. With the increased popularity of dating apps, college students especially seem to have a difficult time with dating as it may seem that there are so many more options than before. When coupled with the complex trauma individuals subconsciously hold, this can create emotional unavailability, further rocky and damaging relationships, an increase in hooking up, and poor mental health. Marriage and relationships have been more frequently studied in sociology, but fewer researchers have focus on the single population. This is especially concerning as more studies have found individuals to be averting marriage and physical intimacy.


Honours Student Aida Ardelean
Along similar lines, how did you come to using attachment styles as your analytical framework?
I became interested in the topic as it was discussed in SOCI415 with Dr. Silvia Bartolic. I began to reflect on my personal experiences as well the discourses I saw to be prevalent in social media and other spaces. I believe many individuals often wonder why their relationships don’t work out and I set out to understand the psycho-social reasoning behind it. While there is nothing wrong with having an insecure attachment style, I believe there needs to be a balance in accepting oneself and experiences while simultaneously learning to reprogram your brain and shift your attachment style. I believe college students engaged in hooking up could benefit from resources to help them navigate issues with attachment styles and dating. Hopefully, my thesis will produce some foundational recommendations.
How has your experience working with faculty on this project been?
I worked full-time during the final year of my degree and was worried that I wouldn’t be able to commit to an Honours thesis. However, Professors Oral Robinson and Kerry Greer were both flexible and understanding. They helped me stay connected and up-to-date with the course content even while I was at work. It likewise helped that my supervisor and I got along well. Dr. Silvia Bartolic genuinely cares a lot about her students and that made it all the easier to work with her.
What was your biggest challenge in completing your work?
I think one of the most difficult parts of this journey was how to convert my personal experience into a sociological project. The topic requires vulnerability and sensitivity, but I was determined to use my personal experiences as a source of comfort and empowerment for my participants. I also believe that sharing stories can be a source of healing and logic cannot be separated from emotion during projects of this caliber. I worried about whether students would participate in the study given how personal it is. However, interest was high and it was gratifying to see how many people were interested in participating and how closely everyone’s stories resembled one another. The completion of the project ended up spanning out much longer than we had intended but the final result was all the more gratifying.
You are presenting your work at the upcoming American Sociological Association meeting. What do you hope to take away from that experience?
This year’s 118th annual ASA meeting is centred around “The Educative Power of Sociology” with the aim to share knowledge and new directions in research and practice. I will be presenting in the Student Forum Special Topic Paper Session which focus on new areas of sociological work or other timely topics. They ask that the paper address sociological issues, whether in research or its application, of importance to the discipline or of interest beyond. I hope that the unique take my research has on attachment theory and the hookup culture can highlight the need for further research on this topic. I’m excited that the importance of this topic is recognized and I am so grateful I am able to share my work with the international sociological community beyond UBC.