Assess the existence of friends with benefits among college students in Kerala

“Friends with Benefits” (FWB) is popular among adolescents and young adults of modern societies, where hook-up culture is peripherally accepted. It is in fact seen in the Indian context, but is nevertheless, rarely discussed, admitted or approved or appreciated by the people of traditional culture. Hedonistic individuals involved in Friends with Benefit relationship is not candid about this, seemingly unusual kind of friendship as they are scared of societal interpretations, evaluations, criticisms and punishments. From a sample of 300 college students from Trivandrum, Kerala,30.7% (N = 92) meet the criteria for FWB; in that 23.9% and 76.1% of participants have high and moderate level of involvement in FWB respectively. It was found that involvement in FWB relationship is driven by tempting factors like material and psychological benefits including proximity, intimacy, commitment and satisfaction. Knowingly or unknowingly people engage in FWB. Males reported high intimacy and sex as motivating factor for engaging in Friends with Benefits relationship than women. Seeking support, getting material benefits, developing a sense of emotional care and commitment through friendship was a more common motivation for women than for men. Participants do report about psychological distress when they had to part with their partner intentionally or unintentionally. The study clearly proves the existence of a specific type of Friends with benefit relationship among college students in Kerala. The pattern of FWB in Kerala is not exactly as seen in western context. Apart from the benefits related to FWB, the direction of relationship may sometimes end up with psychological breakdown that ultimately requires mental health care support.