Abstract
College students across the nation are struggling to make ends meet while pursuing higher education. Because many minimum-wage jobs available to students are insufficient to meet current cost of living, a growing number of students are turning to non-traditional methods of obtaining resources to make ends meet. This study explores one such avenue colloquially known as sugar dating. The phenomenon of sugar dating denotes a supposedly mutually beneficial relationship between a sugar daddy—a wealthy older male who is able and interested in providing financial resource for his partner—and his sugar baby—a younger woman interested in this type of relationship. This thesis aims to explore the ways in which sugar daddies market themselves to college aged women through a content analysis of 50 publicly-accessible profiles collected from an online dating website called SeekingArrangement.com. The 50 sugar daddy profiles were selected from the first 50 of 100 profiles that were available to view, free of cost, on SeekingArrangment.com. After the collection of profiles, the content was analyzed through an open coding process, followed by focused coding and development of themes. Analysis revealed five themes including 1) the sugar daddy’s desire for an emotional connection within the arrangement, 2) a desire for a no-strings-attached relationship, 3) an emphasis on a busy lifestyle, 4) potential deal breakers and desires of sugar daddies, and 5) the social capital and financial provisions that sugar daddies may be able to provide to sugar babies. This study demonstrates the need for further research into the ways that sugar dating sites and sugar daddies advertise themselves and the need for social work professionals to fully understand the implications of sugar dating. Social work professionals should be strongly informed about the sugar dating phenomenon and the ways in which men market themselves to young women. This is because sugar dating arrangements and the process of acquiring such a relationship may have social implications that social workers inherently address in their practice.