The study, led by Peter Jonason, then a psychologist at the University of West Florida, surveyed almost 300 college students who had been in a variety of relationships over the past year. The results showed that booty calls mix the sexual and the emotional, but are distinct from either one-night stands or committed relationships.

“Booty call was a hybrid,” said Jonason, who is now a professor at the University of South Alabama. “We positioned it mostly in the middle [of sexual and romantic relationships], but we positioned it mostly on the side of sex.”…

The team found that overall, emotional acts were less common in booty-call relationships compared with serious long-term relationships. On the other hand, sex acts were more common in booty-call relationships than in one-night stands, probably because the reoccurring nature of booty calls means more time for trying new things, the researchers suspect.