Personality determinants, love attitudes and self-efficacy in people using dating sites

The Internet can provide an alternative space to the real world. Among these opportunities is making new acquaintances with the intention of creating a romantic relationship via portals designed for this purpose. With the growing popularity of dating sites, it was decided to study the relationship between personality determinants (independent and interdependent self-construal, communion and agency), love attitudes, attachment styles and self-efficacy in a group of people using dating sites. The study included 350 respondents. Dating site users comprised 39% of the sample (135 respondents), whereas non-users accounted for 61% of the sample (215 respondents). The following tools were used in the study: Self-Construal Scale (SCS), Self-Description Questionnaire 30, The Love Attitudes Scale: Short Form (LAS: SF), Attachment Styles Questionnaire (KSP) and General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES). The results of the correlation analyses conducted for the entire study sample showed the existence of relationships between independent self-construal, agency, communion, Ludus love attitude, Mania love attitude, secure attachment style, anxiety-ambivalent attachment style and avoidant attachment style and self-efficacy, while the linear regression analysis showed the significance of independent self-construal, agency, Ludus love attitude and anxiety-ambivalent attachment style for self-efficacy. By comparing the obtained correlation and regression results, intergroup differences were shown for the variables studied. Differences in the correlations of the independent variables with the dependent variable between the control group and the research group are found for the relationships of communion and avoidant attachment style. In the experimental group, higher correlation coefficients were observed for the relationship with self-efficacy for the independent self-construal and communion. The level of explanation of the dependent variable by the independent variables is 43% for non-users of dating sites, while it is 36% for users of dating sites. In the experimental group, the predictors were statistically significant in explaining the variance of the dependent variable: independent self-construal, agency, communion, Ludus love style, Agape love style, anxiety-ambivalent attachment style. In the control group: agency and anxiety-ambivalent attachment style. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test showed statistically significant differences between the groups with high median differences observed for anxiety-ambivalent attachment style and avoidant attachment style.