Dating apps users had a higher short-term mating orientation than non-users (more frequent behavior, higher desire, & more positive attitude); simultaneously, those apps seem not a bad (nor good) option for finding long-term love

Barrada JR, Castro A, Fernandez del Rio E, Ramos-Villagrasa PJ (2021) Do young dating app users and non-users differ in mating orientations? PLoS ONE 16(2): e0246350. Feb 2 2021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246350

h/t David Schmitt dating apps users had a higher short-term mating orientation than non-users (more frequent behavior, higher desire, and more positive attitude)...no differences in long-term orientation as a function of use/non-use

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.

Discussion and conclusions

The development of dating apps in recent years has generated some debates, especially related to the motivations for their use. Usually, it has been considered that dating apps were used for casual sex, although other studies have shown that the reasons for their use are more diverse and complex and may include, among others, the search for long-term romantic relationships [2–9]. In the attempt to contribute information to this debate, the objective of this study was to analyze possible differences in the mating orientations in a sample of single young university students depending on whether or not they were users of dating apps.

In response to the main objective of the study, differences were found between users and non-users of dating apps in the three dimensions of short-term orientation–especially in sociosexual behavior–but not in long-term orientation. That is, among app users, it is comparatively easier to find more unrestricted sexually-oriented people, whereas users and non-users do not differ in their interest in maintaining a long-term romantic relationship.

This allows several conclusions to be drawn. First, according to the existing literature and the constructs evaluated, it seems logical that those who use dating apps, many who are open to casual sex, will score higher in the three dimensions of sociosexuality than those who do not use them [9,17]. Secondly, the absence of differences in the long-term orientation indicates that the orientations are not exclusive and contrary to each other [24,25]. Dating apps users, although open to short-term relationships, are not reluctant to long-term mating. This converges with previous results as longitudinal higher likelihood of forming romantic the longitudinal by Tinder users [34] or that previous use is not related to being single [10]. This pattern of results opens the door to the perception that there may be flexibility in mating orientations and preferences and that they can coexist simultaneously in people seeking both a casual relationship and a romantic relationship [24].

Thirdly, among the contributions of the article should be highlighted the assessment of sociosexuality from a multidimensional point of view, distinguishing between behavior, attitudes, and desire, following the recommendations of other authors [15,38]. It has been shown that the three dimensions of the construct, understood as short-term orientation, correlate positively and directly with each other and inversely with the long-term orientation, although the intensity of the association varies, being more powerful in attitudes and less powerful in sociosexual behavior and desire. This points to the need to step away from the conceptualization of unrestricted sociosexuality as equal to short-term mating orientation and restricted sociosexuality as equal to long-term mating orientation [29]. As we previously noted, restricted sociosexuality is better understood as lack of short-term orientation, what is not equivalent to long-term orientation.

In addition, as regards the prevalence of use of dating apps among the participants in the last three months, 20.3% of users were found among those who were singles (12.7% of the total sample), which represents a medium-low prevalence compared to other studies [2,3,5–7], although it should be noted that, in these studies, sampling was aimed at finding people who used dating apps [1].

Of the other results obtained, the most relevant, although it was beyond the main objective of the study, were the differences found in the long-term orientation between single men and women. Contrary to our expectations, men scored slightly higher than women in this variable. A greater long-term orientation had usually been found in women [16,20,21,24,28]. As this is the first study of its kind to be carried out in Spain, it is difficult to identify the causes and determine whether this is a cultural pattern or whether it simply responds to the characteristics of the study sample. In any case, this result seems to suggest that women are increasingly owners of their sexuality and of the decisions that have to do with it, moving away from the effects of traditional double standard [23].

Also contrary to expectations, a relationship was found between age and short-term orientation, but not with long-term relationships. The existing literature defends that people go changing progressively their preferences when they grow up, involving in long-term relationships [22]. However, due to the limited age range of the participants of the present study, this variation cannot be seen in the interests and behaviors of university students. Finally, we found that while heterosexual participants were more oriented to long-term mating, sexual minorities were more inclined towards short-term mating. This result was already present in the literature [33].

The study has a number of limitations. The use of dating apps was evaluated without delving into the variety of uses, from those who used it on a single afternoon as a joke among friends to those who used it for months looking for a romantic relationship. So, what we treated a unitary (self-reported) behavior–dating apps use–included, in fact, important differences in motivations or intensity. Other limitations were related to the representativeness of the sample and the generalization of the results. Among the final participants, the sample was mostly female, aged between 18 and 26, single and from a single university, making the results difficult to generalize to all university students and, still less to young non-university students.

Concerning to sexual orientation, two aspects should be noted. First, the high proportion of participants from sexual minorities, more than 30% of the final sample. This could be considered as a lack of representativeness of our sample. We consider that an alternative interpretation is possible. This study shares with previous studies the same sampling approach and population (Spanish university students with the same age range and from the same university). We will show the time of data collection and the proportion of sexual minority participants: November 2018, 27.0% [14], December 2017, 22.5% [9], May 2016, 14.7% [38], April 2016, 12.7% [35], October 2013, 8.6% [39]. A clear trend is found. The proportion of sexual minority participants is steadily increasing in our samples.

We can imagine two options to explain this. First, our surveys are not just biased by sexual orientation (higher probability of participation for non-heterosexual people), but also that bias is growing. We cannot find any theoretically plausible explanation for this potential change of bias across time. Second, in fact in the population of university students (Spain, a single university) the presence of non-heterosexuality is increasing. This second alternative would imply that the large number of non-heterosexual participants is not a problem of representativeness of the samples.

This hypothesis may be supported by data on the prevalence of persons from sexual minorities found in other studies, which can be exemplified in that of Rahman et al. [40], who assessed the prevalence of women´s and men´s sexual orientation in 28 nations and found similar proportions to those of the present study, both in Spain (73% vs. 27%) and in other countries (e.g., United States, Australia, Finland). There seems to be a trend toward greater self-identification as a member of sexual minorities, paralleling the decrease in stigma and the improvement in the quality of life of these people, especially in countries with more tolerant laws, as is the case in Spain [41]. However, further research is needed to clarify this point. And, in any case, in our regression analyses we included sexual orientation as covariate. In addition, to facilitate the analyses, we decided to group participants into heterosexuals and non-heterosexuals, thus losing the nuances related to the behavior of members of sexual minorities.

Similarly, our study shares with other studies based on self-selected samples and self-reported measures the fact that the results may be limited by response and recall bias. Finally, like most literature on the subject, this study is cross-sectional. It would be interesting to design longitudinal investigations, to assess the development and stability/change, both in the use of dating apps and in mating orientations and their associations.

Despite these limitations, the study is considered to meet the objective posed and answers the question that prompted it. Users of dating apps have a greater short-term orientation than non-users, with no differences in long-term orientation. Thus, it can be said that both types of orientations and relationships are expressions of sexuality that can coexist, that they are not considered as excluding and that, regardless of the type of people’s sexual relations, the important thing is that they are healthy, performed in a context of mutual respect. With regard to the objective of the study, summarizing: dating apps seem to be good for casual sex and not bad for finding long-term love.