What began as Donna Freitas’ class on dating turned into a book titled “Sex & the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America’s College Campuses.”

Freitas, assistant professor of religion at Boston University, interviewed more than 100 students about their sexuality, romantic ideals and the prevalent “hookup” culture at seven colleges, including evangelical Christian, Catholic and public and private secular institutions.

Freitas found two radically opposed campus cultures of sexuality: one of extreme restraint at the evangelical schools, where virginity is prized; and a culture of extreme indulgence everywhere else, including the Catholic schools.

Despite these differences, students everywhere admitted to wanting more romance — not sex — in their lives. Freitas says religion and spirituality could play a larger role to help students navigate these issues.

Q: You used theology to talk about sex in your first class on dating. Why theology?

A: I tend to teach courses that have the word spirituality in the title. There’s a lot of interest just in that word among college students. Even though students really divorced what they recognized as organized religion from their romantic lives, they really wanted spirituality to have something to do with it, whatever that was for them.

Q: Can you explain the gap between studies that show a growth in spirituality among college students, and the disconnect you found between religion and sex among these students?

A: Evangelicals aside, there is a real resistance to organized religion. Most of my students are so alienated from the idea that they are even allowed to draw boundaries with regard to their bodies and sexual selves. So when they read about the possibility of boundaries that are discussed within a religious framework or religious traditions, they’re fascinated. That’s where traditional religion could really enter dialogue with a wide range of youth.

Q: What finding surprised you the most?

A: One would think the colleges would divide according to religious affiliation, but they don’t. It’s evangelical colleges and everyone else. Students at Catholic schools showed up as nearly identical with regard to their opinions about sex and religion as students at non-religious schools. That’s a real wake up to Catholic colleges.

Second, across the board, almost everyone, both men and women, was dissatisfied with hookup culture. The fact that it’s both men and women is really important, because everyone assumes that hookup culture is really bad for women. Men are just as unhappy.