Unraveling the black box of well-being outcomes in mobile dating through a multimethod approach

Popular geo-social dating apps have provided young adults with a unique media space to satisfy developmental needs. The current project postulates that the effects of mobile dating are more complex than what has been previously assumed and aims to introduce several novel perspectives to understand the multilayered role of mobile dating in contemporary well-being threats for young adulthood. More precisely, the intensification process and the continuous availability process are proposed and tested with particular attention to relevant differential susceptibility factors (i.e., gender, sexual orientation, narcissism, attachment style and mate value), and the differential dynamics of reciprocal relationships across different time intervals. As a result, the project aims to provide a well-detailed structure on how to understand the role of mobile dating in well-being threats that are pressing in today’s society (Process 1: gender stereotypes, sexism, and body dissatisfaction; Process 2: loneliness, commitment problems, self-esteem depletion and negative affect). A multi-method approach will be used in which a large scale content-analytical study will document for the first time the occurrence and manifestations of different types of strategic self-presentations in mobile dating profiles. The interval-contingent experience sampling method of measurement burst research will further provide an unique account of the fluctuations in the links between mobile dating and well-being.