What would you do for a pair of Michigan-Ohio State football tickets?

Some University students might offer sex for tickets to “The Game,” according to Daniel Kruger, a research scientist in the School of Public Health.

Students who participated in Kruger’s study last fall reported that they had been offered - or themselves offered - sex for tickets to sporting events or help with laundry, vacuuming or class papers.

In the study, researchers asked freshmen and sophomore students in introductory psychology classes to answer questions about experiences they might have had where sexual relations were suggested in exchange for “investment of time or effort or something of material value,” Kruger said. […]

The results of the study seem to support traditional gender roles, with almost twice as many men saying that they had offered resources for sex. About 27 percent of men said they had offered an investment at least “once or twice,” as opposed to 14 percent of women.

The study also showed that women are more likely to receive offers of investment for sex. About 20 percent of women reported being offered goods or services for sex, while 14 percent of men said they had.

Students in the study reported that 90 percent of these exchanges occurred outside long-term relationships. Kruger said this surprised him because the patterns are more typical in long-term relationships and marriages.

“There’s an implicit agreement for the exchange of resources in marriage,” Kruger said.

He said the findings were interesting because University students are relatively affluent. Kruger said the study suggests that students negotiate exchanges “not out of necessity, but because they can.”

Students seemed surprised at the results. LSA sophomore Devon Davis said he’d heard of people offering money to have another student write a paper for them, but never heard of sex being offered. […]

Kruger’s research, published in the latest edition of Evolutionary Psychology, lists examples of animals like primates, hummingbirds and penguins trading sex for investment.

Kruger said comparing humans with animals is extremely useful as an “explanatory framework” for human activity. In the last 20 years, he said, evolutionary research has become increasingly acceptable to both academics and the general public.

“There is a greater realization of the power of evolutionary theory and human behavior,” he said.