New research sheds light on how the use of the dating app Tinder is related to relationship attitudes and dating behaviors of young Australian women. The findings indicate that while users of the app do show a greater openness towards casual sex, they also engage in committed relationships, suggesting that Tinder can serve a variety of relationship goals. The study was published in Psychology of Popular Media.
The motivation for this study stemmed from Tinder’s significant influence on modern dating culture. Since its launch in 2012, Tinder has dramatically changed how people meet and form relationships. With over 60 million users and facilitating 1.5 million dates weekly, Tinder’s impact is undeniable.
“A few years ago, I was one of the 60 million people worldwide who used dating apps. I remember sitting on my couch one night wondering how my use of dating apps was impacting my wellbeing and how I felt about relationships,” said study author Andrea Steele, a senior lecturer in psychology and associate dean of learning and teaching at Murdoch University.
“Anecdotally, I had heard from people who said they had become ‘disillusioned’ from dating apps, but I had also heard many success stories emerging from dating apps. At the time, there was emerging research into how other forms of social media, e.g., Instagram, related to mental health outcomes and how people felt about their bodies, but there was not a lot of research out there on dating apps.”
The study included 249 Australian women between the ages of 18 and 29, primarily heterosexual and not currently in a serious relationship. Over half of the participants reported having used Tinder. The researchers collected data from May to August 2020, using a combination of university recruitment and social media outreach.
Participants were asked about their use of Tinder, their general dating experiences, and their attitudes towards relationships. They responded to a series of questionnaires that measured their views on sexual standards, permissiveness in sexual behavior, and beliefs in concepts like soulmates. These questionnaires included the Sexual Standards Script, which gauges attitudes towards casual sex and multiple sexual partners, and the Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale, which assesses openness to casual relationships and idealized views of sex in committed relationships.
Additionally, participants were asked to report on their number of committed romantic relationships and frequency of hookups over the past year.
The researchers found that Tinder users reported engaging in more hookups and also had a higher number of committed relationships compared to non-users. This finding challenges the stereotype of Tinder solely promoting casual relationships.
“We expected that Tinder users would report engaging in more ‘hook-ups’ compared to non-Tinder users,” Steele told PsyPost. “But we didn’t expect that Tinder users would also report having been in more committed relationships. Despite Tinder’s reputation as a ‘hookup app,’ it may also be fruitful for committed relationship development.”
“Indeed, subsequent research that we’ve conducted has suggested that although most users of dating apps are aware of the ‘hookup’ stereotypes associated with the apps, many people still use dating applications hoping for committed romantic relationships.”
Tinder users showed a lower adherence to strict sexual standards and a higher level of sexual permissiveness compared to non-users. This suggests that Tinder users are more accepting of casual sexual encounters. In particular, Tinder users were more likely to disagree with statements such as “I have a hard time respecting a girl who has casual sex” and more likely to agree with statements such as “Casual sex is acceptable.”
Users of Tinder were also less likely to believe in the concept of a soulmate, indicating a possible shift in how young adults view the potential for “one true love.” They tended to disagree with statements such as “Somewhere I have a ‘soul mate’ I should marry, a special partner who is uniquely suited to me and vice versa.”
However, no significant difference was found between Tinder users and non-users in terms of sexual communion (e.g., “At its best, sex seems to be the merging of two souls”), indicating that idealistic views of sex within committed relationships are not necessarily affected by Tinder use.
“Tinder use appears connected to relationship attitudes and behaviors,” Steele said. “In our study, women who had used Tinder were more likely than non-Tinder users to report greater numbers of both casual hookups and relationships. These findings support the notion that Tinder is creating an easily accessible means of meeting potential partners. We also found that Tinder users reported more liberal beliefs about sex and were less likely to believe in the existence of a soulmate.”
But the study, like all research, has some limitations. The sample was largely homogenous, primarily consisting of heterosexual, young adult women in Australia, which may not fully represent the diverse global Tinder user base. Additionally, the study’s design does not allow for conclusions about whether Tinder use causes changes in relationship attitudes or simply attracts individuals with certain predispositions towards dating and relationships.
“We found that Tinder use was related to greater liberality towards sex,” Steele explained. “However, because this study was correlational, we don’t know whether Tinder facilitates greater engagement in the ‘hook-up culture’ or whether those who already have liberal views towards sex are more likely to use Tinder, or it could be a combination of the two!
“More research is needed to disentangle these relationships. Further, although we found many young women are engaging in casual sex, we don’t yet know the extent to which they are active participants in seeking casual sex or whether they are simply adapting their behaviours to align with the ‘hook-up culture’ that is associated with dating apps and/or to meet the expectations of their matches.”
The study, “Swiping Right for “Mr Right”: An Investigation Into the Relationship Between Tinder Use and Relationship Attitudes and Behaviors in Australian Female Emerging Adults“, was authored by Jane E. Lapsley, Andrea Renee Steele, and Olivia Monson.
