Dating and online partnership formation

Gina Potarca

Chapter Chapter 12 in Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course, 2025, pp 141-152 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter provides an overview of research on the patterns and implications of online dating for partnership formation. Digital tools for partner selection such as dating websites, apps, and social networks have transformed how people meet, reducing the importance of geographical proximity and expanding opportunities to connect with others beyond their immediate environment. In the last decade, researchers have explored how these changes affect partnering patterns. The chapter highlights two main strands of (mostly) quantitative research inspired by the advent of online dating. The first wave of studies used digital trace data from dating profiles and contact records to examine early-stage interactions and social homogamy in online partner searches. The second wave focused on long-term outcomes, such as the timing of marriage, educational gaps in union formation, relationship quality, gender roles in marriage, and users’ mental health. However, many areas remain underexplored, particularly regarding the fertility, longevity, and well-being of couples formed online, the stratifying effects of digital partner selection, and the rise of complex and diverse partnership forms facilitated by digital tools. This and other potential avenues for future studies are presented in the last part of the chapter.

Keywords: Online dating; Partner selection; Assortative mating; Marriage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803923376
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781803923383.00019 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:21570_12

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().