Of Loving and Losing: The Influence of Dating App Motivations and Perceived Success on Psychological Well-Being

We advance communication theory on the relationship between online dating and psychological well-being with a nationally representative, two-wave panel survey of dating app users ( N = 521) that investigates individuals’ motives for dating and their perceived success. Results from an autoregressive structural equation model revealed people felt lonelier when they used dating apps for social approval, but not when they used them to pursue relationships. Perceived success was linked to psychological well-being: people felt lonely and less satisfied when they believed they were not attracting partners and better well-being when they felt successful. Gender differences were observed where women reported being more successful and less lonely but also more anxious about dating than men. However, men were observed to have higher life satisfaction when experiencing higher success. Our findings contribute evidence for the importance of motivations and perceptions in communication technology use and psychological well-being.