ArticleJournal of behavioral addictions2019
The psychology of "swiping": A cluster analysis of the mobile dating app Tinder.
Article in Journal of behavioral addictions, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Problematic Online Dating: Systematic Review of Definitions, Correlates, and Study Designs.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Behind the Screens: A Systematic Literature Review of Quantitative Research on Mobile Dating.Archives of sexual behavior · 2022Pooled it
- Dating Apps and Their Sociodemographic and Psychosocial Correlates: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Perceived Digital Well-Being Scale in the United States and United Kingdom: Psychometric Validation Study.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- Digital dating engagement among young users: gender differences in Tinder use motivations and associations with sexual desire but not self-esteem.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Validation of the english assessment of criteria for specific internet-use disorders (ACSID-11) for tinder and online pornography use.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- The Problematic Online Dating Apps Use Scale (PODAUS): Development and evaluation of its psychometric properties.Addictive behaviors reports · 2024Article
- Online dating: predictors of problematic tinder use.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Dating App Use and Wellbeing: An Application-Based Pilot Study Employing Ecological Momentary Assessment and Objective Measures of Use.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Validation of the Polish Problematic Tinder Use Scale and Its Relationship with Safe Sex Behaviors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Willingness to Pay for a Dating App: Psychological Correlates.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- User review analysis of dating apps based on text mining.PloS one · 2023Article
- Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Arab Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) by Item Response Theory Modeling (IRT).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Mobile Dating Applications and the Sexual Self: A Cluster Analysis of Users' Characteristics.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Wanna See My Dog Pic? A Comparative Observational Study of the Presentation of Animals on Online Dating Profiles in Vienna and Tokyo.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Sexual Experiences and Attachment Styles in Online and Offline Dating Contexts.International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2022Article
- Is Dating Behavior in Digital Contexts Driven by Evolutionary Programs? A Selective Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- On the Effect of Practice on Exploration and Exploitation of Options and Strategies.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Occurrence and clinical characteristics of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD): A cluster analysis in two independent community samples.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsThe use of the smartphone dating application Tinder is increasingly popular and has received much media attention. However, no empirical study to date has investigated the psychological characteristics driving its adaptive or problematic use. The aim of this study is to determine whether reliable subtypes of users can be identified via a cluster analysis approach.
methodsA total of 1,159 Tinder users were recruited. Survey questions investigated user characteristics, including: motives for app use, sexual desire, attachment styles, impulsivity traits, self-esteem, problematic use, depressive mood, and patterns of use.
resultsFour reliable clusters were identified: two with low levels of problematic use ("regulated" and "regulated with low sexual desire"), one with an intermediate level of problematic use ("unregulated-avoidants"), and one with a high level of problematic use ("unregulated-highly motivated"). The clusters differed on gender, marital status, depressive mood, and use patterns.
conclusionThe findings provide insight into the dynamic relationships among key use-related factors and shed light on the mechanisms underlying the self-regulation difficulties that appear to characterize problematic Tinder use.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.