IJCM_415A: “Swipe, Match, Risk: A study about Dating applications amongst the youth of a metropolitan city.

Abstract

Background: One of the primary goals of young adulthood is to establish a committed romantic relationship. During the last decade, the Internet has become an important platform to initiate contact with potential romantic or sexual partners. The Statista Market Forecast estimated that by the end of 2019, there were more than 200 million active users of dating apps worldwide. The current study is an attempt to understand the usage of the dating apps among young adults, the target users of these apps. Objective: 1. To estimate the prevalence of use of internet-based dating applications in the youth. 2. To study the pattern of social and sexual encounters through these apps. 3. To understand the reasons for the usage of the apps. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was done amongst 18-25 years college students from a metropolitan city of India. Minimum sample size required for the study was 1012. Ethical approval was obtained from local ethics committee & data was collected via a Google form amongst students from colleges in particular area of city. Results: 1641 respondents participated in the study. Majority of the participants were females, belonging to the age group of 18-21 years. Dating applications were used by 208 participants. The most common reason for use was finding love/partner, casual sex & exploring/experimenting. Association between use of dating applications was statistically significant with gender, duration of stay in Mumbai, relationship status, sexual orientation and habits. Conclusion: The use of dating apps was 12.7% in this study. The risk factors associated with dating apps were male gender, residing in Mumbai since more than an year, habits like smoking, alcohol etc. Sexual orientation & relationship status were also significant risk factors for use of dating applications.

Keywords

• college students
• dating applications