The Psychology of Casual Relationships. Anabelle Bernard Fournier is a researcher of sexual and reproductive health at the University of Victoria as well as a writer on various health topics. Carly Snyder, MD is a reproductive and perinatal psychiatrist who combines traditional psychiatry with integrative medicine-based treatments. Casual dating is dating outside of a committed romantic relationship. Put another way, it involves dating someone and possibly engaging in physical intimacy or sex without being engaged, married, or otherwise in a long-term commitment.
Casual dating can be considered a fun way to socialize or a stepping stone toward a long-term committed relationship, or it may be viewed as immoral, especially if extramarital sex is involved. Here we cover the reasons why people casually date, its mental health effects, and tips for making casual dating a positive experience. There are many reasons people might choose to date casually. They include:. There are many benefits of casual dating.
We get to spend time with someone who likes us and who we like back, but we don't have to worry about labeling the relationship or making any life decisions that revolve around the other person. Casual dating can be a learning experience, too. Down the line, we may learn that we want to enter into a serious relationship with this person, or we may not. Either way, we are able to better identify our needs in a relationship and what we're looking for in future partners.
Casual sex isn't required to casually date and it's important that both people respect each other's boundaries surrounding sex and physical intimacy. If we do want to establish physical intimacy, casual dating can offer consistency in this respect as well i. When it comes to casual dating, we get to decide our own experience.
We choose how many people we date at a time, whether we want to engage in physical intimacy, and how often we wish to see the person or people we're dating. Casual dating comes with potential positive and negative mental health effects. On the positive side, it can increase a person's sense of freedom and independence. It may also relieve any feeling of urgency to find a partner and allow a person to focus on themself.
