Do young dating app users and non-users differ in mating orientations?

PLoS One. 2021 Feb 2;16(2):e0246350. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246350. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

In recent years, dating apps have changed the way people meet and communicate with potential romantic and/or sexual partners. There exists a stereotype considering that these apps are used only for casual sex, so those apps would not be an adequate resource to find a long-term relationship. The objective of this study was to analyze possible individual differences in the mating orientations (short-term vs. long-term) between users and non-users of dating apps. Participants were 902 single students from a mid-size Spanish university, of both sexes (63% female, and 37% male), aged between 18 and 26 years (M = 20.34, SD = 2.05), who completed a battery of online questionnaires. It was found that, whereas dating apps users had a higher short-term mating orientation than non-users (more frequent behavior, higher desire, and more positive attitude), there were no differences in the long-term orientation as a function of use/non-use. Considering this, dating apps are a resource with a strong presence of people interested on hooking-up while, simultaneously, not a bad (nor good) option for finding long-term love.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Courtship / psychology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Love
  • Male
  • Mobile Applications / trends*
  • Sexual Behavior / psychology*
  • Sexual Behavior / statistics & numerical data
  • Sexual Partners / psychology
  • Single Person / psychology
  • Spain
  • Students
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Universities
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Government of Spain, under grant PGC2018-097086-A-I00; and by the Government of Aragon (Group S31_20D). Department of Innovation, Research and University and FEDER 2014-2020, "Building Europe from Aragón". The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.