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This study explores 328 mobile daters’ (63% females; 86% heterosexuals) experiences with ghosting, using both open- and close-ended questions. First, we used thematic analysis to explore mobile dating app users’ motivations to ghost, the reported consequences of experiencing ghosting and reported strategies to cope with having been ghosted. Next, quantitative analyses were carried out to predict the likelihood of ghosting other users and which factors contribute to experiencing ghosting as more painful. As both our qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest, experiencing ghosting on a dating app can be quite painful and has an impact on users’ self-esteem and mental well-being. However, our findings on ghosters’ motives also stress a nuanced perspective on ghosting behavior, given that it is not necessarily done with harmful or conscious intent. As such, our findings also hold practical implications given that insights into mechanisms to cope with ghosting can help dating app users to rationalize their ghosting experience and thus limit its impact.

To better understand if and how the mechanics of the process Tinder imposes on its users (i.e., swiping, matching, and starting conversations) influences the resulting sexual or romantic interactions, we collected data from 1038 Belgian Tinder users. Our findings show that a user's swiping quantity does not guarantee a higher number of Tinder matches, women have generally more matches than men and men usually have to start a conversation on Tinder. Moreover, while having conversations was positively associated with reporting having had offline Tinder encounters, less than half of our sample reported having had an offline meeting with another Tinder user. Whereas more than one third of those offline encounters lead to casual sex, more than a quarter of those offline encounters result in the formation of a committed relationship. Such findings indicate that Tinder is not "just a hookup app", as often assumed in public discourse. We argue it is plausible that sexual encounters will eventually lead to committed relationships in a society where initiation of relationship formation with dating has been replaced by hooking up.Keywords: Tinder, casual sex, romantic relationship, Tinder outcomes, Tinder use From Swiping to Casual Sex and/or Committed Relationships: Exploring the Experiences of Tinder UsersWhile courtship in the 19th century was characterized by family supervision in the privacy of the home, it became more individualistic during the next century (Illouz, 1997).Recently, it evolved into a more casual practice characterized by high levels of sexual interaction (Garcia, Reiber, Massey, & Merriwether, 2012; Reid, Elliot, & Webber, 2011;Wade, 2017). These developments historically coincided with technological innovations, which enabled new modes of courtship. For instance, starting in the 20th century, the automobile and the entertainment industry (i.e., movie theaters, the drive-in culture, dance halls) provided dating couples with inexpensive opportunities to get away from their daily routines and parental control (Bogle, 2008; Illouz, 1997). Towards the beginning of the 21st century, online dating services started expanding an individual's dating pool (Clark, 1998; David & Cambre, 2016). Individuals were no longer restricted to dating those physically and socially proximate. They could now connect with prospective partners outside their preexisting networks (Barraket & Henry-Waring, 2008). This ease of connectivity and the seemingly limitless possibilities offered by online dating sites and mobile dating applications (MDAs) has received considerable critical attention (Bhattacharya, 2015;Hardey, 2004; Landovitz et al., 2013;Sales 2015).Both researchers and the popular media argue that it has become easier than ever to find casual sexual partners with MDAs (e.g., Bhattacharya, 2015; David & Cambre, 2016; Race 2015;Sales, 2015). Especially Grindr, a location-based MDA predominantly targeted at men who have sex with men, has received quite a bit of scholarly attention on issues related to sexual ...

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