Love me Tinder: Untangling emerging adults’ motivations for using the dating application Tinde
Telematics and Informatics XXXXXXXXXX–78
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Telematics and Informatics
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Love me Tinder: Untangling emerging adults’ motivations fo
using the dating application Tinde
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dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele XXXXXXXXXX
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⇑ Co
esponding author at: Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCOR), University of Amsterdam, Postbus 15793, 1001 NG Am
The Netherlands.
E-mail address: XXXXXXXXXX (S.R. Sumter).
Sindy R. Sumter a,⇑, Laura Vandenbosch b,c, Loes Ligtenberg d
aAmsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Research Foundation Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen) associated with Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, University
of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
cMIOS (Media, ICT, and Interpersonal Relations in Organisations and Society), University of Antwerp, Belgium
dUniversity of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 17 March 2016
Received in revised form 29 April 2016
Accepted 29 April 2016
Available online 30 April 2016
Keywords:
Tinde
Online dating
Emerging adulthood
Uses and gratification theory
Cross-sectional research
a b s t r a c t
Although the smartphone application Tinder is increasingly popular among emerging
adults, no empirical study has yet investigated why emerging adults use Tinder.
Therefore, we aimed to identify the primary motivations of emerging adults to use
Tinder. The study was conducted among Dutch 18–30 year old emerging adults who com-
pleted an online survey. Over half of the sample were cu
ent or former Tinder users
(n = 163). An exploratory factor analysis, using a parallel analysis approach, uncovered
six motivations to use Tinder: Love, Casual Sex, Ease of Communication, Self-Worth
Validation, Thrill of Excitement, and Trendiness. In contrast to previously suggested, the
Love motivation appeared to be a stronger motivation to use Tinder than the Casual Sex
motivation. In line with literature on online dating, men were more likely to report a
Casual Sex motivation for using Tinder than women. In addition, men more frequently
eported Ease of Communication and Thrill of Excitement motives. With regard to age,
the motivation Love, Casual Sex and Ease of Communication were positively related to
age. Finally, Tinder motivations were meaningfully related to offline encounters with
Tinder matches. In sum, the study showed that emerging adults have six primary motiva-
tions to use Tinder and that these motivations differ according to one’s age and gender.
Tinder should not be seen as merely a fun, hookup app without any strings attached, but
as a new way for emerging adults to initiate committed romantic relationships. Notably,
the findings call for a more encompassing perspective on why emerging adults use Tinder.
� 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Tinder is cu
ently considered to be the most popular dating app for iOS and Android with at least 10 million active users
a day (Ayers, 2014; Freier, XXXXXXXXXXIn The Netherlands alone around 1.2 million people have already downloaded this free app.
Though Tinder was initially introduced as a general dating app (Bosker, 2013), it has also been called the hook-up or sex-app
(Ayers, 2014; Sales, 2015; Thompson, XXXXXXXXXXTinder is one of the first dating apps that is specifically designed as a smart-
phone application rather than an extension of an existing dating website. To create a personal Tinder profile, Tinder uses
sterdam,
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68 S.R. Sumter et al. / Telematics and Informatics XXXXXXXXXX–78
information from an individual’s Facebook account regarding age, gender, friends and interests. The amount of personal
information that is available on a personal Tinder profile is limited and the platform focuses in particular on one’s appear-
ance through pictures. Owners of a Tinder profile are asked to indicate preferences regarding online dating partners’ gender,
age, and vicinity. These preferences are used when searching for potential ‘‘matches.” Moreover, the app makes it possible
through the smartphone’s GPS functionalities to locate potential matches in close range of the user. When a match is found,
the user decides based on the profile picture and interests of the potential match, if he or she is interested or not. The use
indicates his/her interest by swiping right (saying ‘‘like”) or left (saying ‘‘pass”). When two users like each other, a ‘match’ is
made which means that users can chat with each other on Tinder.
Some websites cele
ate the opportunities that Tinder offers to hook-up, whereas others lament how Tinder facilitates a
hookup culture (Sales, XXXXXXXXXXHowever, scientific literature on emerging adults’ use of dating websites in the past has taught
us that users often have a more diverse set of motivations to use these media besides simply hooking up (Gudelunas, 2012;
Van De Wiele and Tong, XXXXXXXXXXUp to now, it is unclear which reasons emerging adults have for using this particular dating
app. Therefore, the cu
ent exploratory study examines the motivations of emerging adults to use Tinder with particula
attention for potential demographic antecedents (i.e., age and gender) and offline consequences (i.e., dates and casual sex
encounters) of Tinder motivations.
This knowledge contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, theory on media use and effects highlights that
in-depth knowledge on motivations for media use is necessary to truly understand why individuals choose to consume a
particular medium (Nabi and Krcmar, 2004; Slater, 2007; So, XXXXXXXXXXPrior literature on motivations for traditional media,
social media and dating websites has highlighted that some motivations are shared across platforms (Sundar and
Limperos, 2013), while other motivations are unique to a particular platform (Ryan et al., XXXXXXXXXXAs no study has yet explored
which motivations drive the use of Tinder, the cu
ent study is a first step in addressing this lacuna.
Second, geosocial apps, like Tinder, have been suggested to affect emerging adults’ romantic and sexual life, sometimes in
an undesirable way, for example increased experiences of sexual harassment (Mitchell et al., 2008) and increased risk fo
sexually transmitted infections (Beymer et al., 2014; Bhattacharya, XXXXXXXXXXLearning about why individuals use these appli-
cations is a first step to organize prevention efforts that may combat these potential adverse outcomes.
2. Theoretical background and research questions
2.1. Motivations to use Tinde
Dating apps, like Tinder, are used most frequently by 25-to-34-year olds (Ayers, 2014; Smith and Duggan, XXXXXXXXXXThe Uses
and Gratifications (U&G) theory may explain why emerging adults are such avid users of Tinder. This theory highlights that
individuals use certain types of mass media to fulfill specific needs and desires (Katz, 1959; Katz et al., XXXXXXXXXXThese needs
and desires can be specific to one’s developmental stage or personality. Although U&G theory was developed to study mass
media, the theory has been successfully applied to understand why people use social media (Foregger, 2008; Ryan et al.,
2014; Shao, 2009; Urista et al., XXXXXXXXXXIn this view, the literature has suggested that physical, social, as well as psychosocial
gratifications stimulate users’ consumption of online dating applications (Valkenburg and Peter, 2007; Van De Wiele and
Tong, 2014).
Physical gratifications sought in media content may relate to exercising or eating (Farkas, 2010), but also to sexual plea-
sure (Van De Wiele and Tong, XXXXXXXXXXNeeds of sexual pleasure are increasingly present during emerging adulthood
(Diamond, 2004; Garcia et al., 2015; Patrick et al., XXXXXXXXXXMotivations related to sexual pleasure are likely to drive the use
of a dating app like Tinder as prior research has revealed similar motivations for the use of other dating applications
(Gudelunas, 2012; Van De Wiele and Tong, 2014).
Social gratification sought in media content relates to needs, such as establishing new friendships and finding a romantic
partner (Hart, 2015; Park et al., XXXXXXXXXXEmerging adults aim to establish their first long-term serious relationships and
increasingly value commitment as a characteristic of social relationships (Sumter et al., XXXXXXXXXXPrior research suggested that
for emerging adults online media are an aid to fulfil these developmental needs of finding a romantic partner and maintain-
ing friendships (Gudelunas, 2012; Van De Wiele and Tong, 2014).
Psychosocial gratification refers to needs that have a psychological origin but interact with social variables (Bartsch, 2012;
McAdams and Olson, XXXXXXXXXXDevelopmental literature argues that several psychosocial needs become more prominent dur-
ing adolescence and remain important during emerging adulthood (Arnett, XXXXXXXXXXPsychosocial needs have been reported to
explain users’ consumption of dating media (Valkenburg and Peter, XXXXXXXXXXFor instance, dating applications are used to sat-
isfy a need for sensation (Gudelunas, 2012; Lawson and Leck, 2006; Van De Wiele and Tong, XXXXXXXXXXMoreover, scholars have
emarked that the novelty of new media tools are an important motivation for usage among youngsters (Lai and Yang, 2014;
Papacharissi and Mendelson, 2010; Smock et al., XXXXXXXXXXIn addition, individuals use social media platforms to satisfy psy-
chosocial needs related to self-worth, such as validating the sexual attractiveness of one’s own appearance and feeling bette
about oneself in general (Nesi and Prinstein, 2015; Yurchisin et al., XXXXXXXXXXLastly, research on computer-mediated-
communication has repeatedly suggested that people use this medium to satisfy a need for (sexual) communication without
spatial and social constraints (Couch and Liamputtong, 2008; Su
ahmanyam et al., 2006; Valkenburg and Peter, 2007;
Whitty and Ca
, 2006).
S.R. Sumter et al. / Telematics and Informatics XXXXXXXXXX–78 69
Although we expect that the motivations of emerging adults will reflect the three
oad categories discussed above, i.e.
sexual, social and psychosocial, it remains unclear which specific motivations can be identified. Therefore, the main aim of
the study is to uncover emerging adults’ specific motivations to use Tinder. The results of this exploration will be used to
create the first measure of Tinder motivations. Thus, based on the literature on emerging adulthood and motivations fo
using new media reviewed above, we will explore the following research question (RQ):
RQ1: What are emerging adults’ primary motivations to use Tinder?
2.2. Antecedents of Tinder motivations
Studies have found gender and age differences in users’ physical, social and psycho-social motivations to use online tools
(Barker, 2009; Quan-Haase and Young, XXXXXXXXXXGender socialization literature has emphasized that men and women are
socialized toward different physical, social and psycho-social needs (Haferkamp et al., 2012; Tolman et al., XXXXXXXXXXFo
instance, sexual satisfaction is regarded as particularly important for men (Tolman et al., XXXXXXXXXXAccordingly