Sex and Relationships among Youth

The demography of swiping right. An overview of couples who met through dating apps in Switzerland

“…Contemporary romance in Western societies is allegedly undergoing "a brave new world of intimacy" [14], or a "deinstitutionalization" of marriage [15]. Scholars also speak of a new culture of courtship and "hooking up" [16], referring to sexual practices that lack legal bindings, or a clear-cut set of rules and expectations. In removing the obstacle of physical distance and allowing individuals to disengage from bonds with astonishing ease and minimal costs, online partner search tools such as dating platforms, are presumably contributing to the increase in fleeting connections devoid of commitment [17].…”

“…Current results may be generalized to countries in which marriage (with children) is still normatively and institutionally endorsed, and where individuals in search for partners online can only take advantage of a less socially constraining mate selection context by showing more interest in (pre-marital) cohabitation. It may be that in other less conservative countries or in contexts where hook-ups are already engrained in partnering culture, like the U.S. [16,80], users of swipe-based apps are more susceptible to the casual dating ethos of swipe-based apps, and hence more frequently engage in uncommitted sexual encounters, or form couples with looser family formation intentions. Furthermore, data from countries with a more rapid expansion of women's education [81,82], and thus a greater over-supply of high-educated women in search of partners, may reveal an even stronger effect of dating apps on educational exogamy.…”