There appears to be an association between the use of dating apps and symptoms of social anxiety and depression, with some gender differences.
Online dating apps such as Tinder represent a new way to meet possible partners and the motivations behind the use of these apps can be varied.
Introduction
Literature shows us that social anxiety and depression are associated with difficulties in establishing intimate relationships (Schneier et al., 1994) and a reduced likelihood of being involved in a romantic relationship (Alden and Taylor, 2004; St John and Montgomery, 2009).
The anhedonia associated with depression may hinder dating given the lack of interest experienced in previously enjoyable activities, while people with social anxiety may avoid asking other people out on a date out of concern for being negatively evaluated or rejected.
Today, online dating applications such as Tinder represent a new way to meet possible partners. The motivations behind the use of these apps are varied, the most reported ones being "love", "casual sex", "ease of communication", "validation of self-esteem", "thrill of excitement" and "following a fashion" (Sumter et al., 2017).
As these apps offer numerous benefits (such as accessibility), they might be attractive to individuals with high levels of social anxiety or depression who have difficulty establishing intimate relationships. Furthermore, the motivations reported by people with social anxiety and depression might differ from those reported by people without such problems. Having low self-esteem (Van Tuijl et al., 2014), individuals with social anxiety and depression may use Tinder to gain more self-confidence (Sumter et al., 2017) and may report fewer motivations such as 'casual sex' and 'thrill of excitement'.
There is also a possibility that individuals with social anxiety and depression engage in more passive use of dating apps (e.g., mere viewing of posts instead of direct communication; Burke et al., 2011), thus reducing opportunities to form relationships.
Dating apps, depression and social anxiety
To answer these questions, a study by Lenton-Brym and colleagues (2021) was the first to examine the relationship between social anxiety and depression and the use of dating apps.
Their findings suggest that men, more than women, tend to use dating apps for casual sex, which can be explained by the different expectations between men and women about what constitutes 'appropriate' sexual behaviour, in line with the findings of Sumter and colleagues (2017).
One particularly interesting finding that emerged was that positive associations between dating app use and social anxiety symptoms were stronger in women, with reported motivations being 'Love', 'Thrill of arousal', and 'Casual sex'. Similarly, associations between symptoms of depression and dating app use were stronger among women than men ('Ease of communication', 'Self-esteem').
Past research suggests that women use technology for social communication more than men (Fallows, 2005); with increased symptoms of social anxiety and/or depression, women may be even more likely to turn to technology for social contact, especially if alternative forms of social contact are reduced due to avoidance.
The motivation 'Validation of self-esteem' and 'Love' did not differ between genders and were commonly reported by both male and female groups.
This result may be related to the general tendency of socially anxious individuals to fear negative evaluation and to seek reassurance and validation accordingly (Cougle et al., 2012). In line with this interpretation, the motivation 'Validation of self-esteem' was high regardless of gender in individuals with high levels of social anxiety.
Dating app, social anxiety and depression: gender differences
Finally, the results show that, among men, social anxiety and depressive symptoms negatively predicted the likelihood of initiating contact with people through dating apps, whereas for women, neither social anxiety nor depressive symptoms predicted the likelihood of contact. Specifically, it appears that women are unlikely to initiate contact with the other person, regardless of depressive symptoms or social anxiety. This is in line with traditional gender roles in dating and courtship, according to which men should be more active and assertive (Eaton et al., 2016).
The observation with respect to the fact that men with high symptoms of social anxiety and depression are less likely to initiate a conversation with possible partners suggests that dating apps fail to completely overcome the barriers to relationship initiation for these individuals. Rather, they may expose themselves to the potentially deleterious consequences of dating app use (e.g., anxiety, depression, body dissatisfaction; Woerner et a., 2017)) without reaping the benefits of increased social connection.