The Independent Women's Forum released their annual survey of Washington D.C. interns working on Capitol Hill.

The survey of 200 college students from around the country examines career aspirations and some policy stances, but is most well known for its exploration of the social and sexual relationships of the respondents.

The survey probed the reality behind the hype of today's "hook-up" culture - defining a "hook-up" as "a physical encounter ranging anywhere from kissing to sexual intercourse, and [the participants] don't necessarily expect anything more from each other past that encounter."

It's an overly broad definition.

Still, the results were interesting.

The majority of the interns, 55% reported no "hook-ups" during their stay in Washington, D.C. But nearly one-fifth, 19% reported between 2 and 5 hook-ups, and a full 4% reported over 6 such encounters.

No great surprise, but an important finding was that alcohol is a large factor in the hook-up culture.

Those students who spent less than $20 per week on alcohol were the ones least likely to report hooking-up.

A full 40% of the respondents said that they had engaged in "intimate activities" that "they otherwise may not have participated in" while they had been drinking. The survey was done by the polling company and had a margin of error of +/- 5.9%. [Family Research Council, Issue No. 10, 07/22/05; Abstinence Clearinghouse, 22Jul05]