How Sweet is the Deal? The Effect of Incentives on College Students’ Willingness to Sugar Date

Sugar dating has emerged as a controversial type of transactional relationship, frequently compared to prostitution and sex work. The current study explores college students’ willingness to engage in various types of sugar dating services in exchange for instrumental and intrinsic incentives such as cash, company, and fine gifts. Using a sample of 641 U.S. undergraduate students, we implemented a randomized survey experiment to examine the extent to which randomly assigned incentives impacted willingness to sugar date. Analyses were conducted using linear probability models (LPMs) predicting students’ willingness to exchange each service. Both males and females were more willing to exchange less explicit forms of sugaring services such as talking and dating. Findings indicated that monetary incentives and payment for college tuition were greatly influential in motivating willingness to engage in more explicit services such as making out or having sex with a partner. Theoretical, legal, and ethical implications are discussed.