Prior research (Blackhart et al., 2014) found that rejection-sensitive individuals are more likely to use online dating sites. The purpose of the current research was to explain the relationship between rejection sensitivity and online dating site usage. Study 1 examined whether true self mediated the relation between rejection sensitivity and online dating. Study 2 sought to replicate the findings of Study 1 and to examine whether self-disclosure moderated the relationship between true self and online dating in the mediation model. Results replicated those found by Blackhart et al. and also found that true self mediated the relationship between rejection sensitivity and online dating site usage. These findings suggest that rejection-sensitive individuals feel they can more easily represent their “true” selves in online environments, such as online dating sites, which partially explains why they are more likely to engage in online dating.

The increased use of online dating sites has further encouraged corporations’ attempts to capitalize on these mate-seeking trends. Match.com, eHarmony, and OkCupid are primary competitors in a growing market of individuals seeking out potential romantic partners. They offer several mainstream dating options as well as niche-dating sites. Similar to society at large where dating still occurs offline, scholars have revealed that racial hierarchies exist within various online platforms. As such, the roles of gender and ethnicity in online dating environments merit study. Specifically, the experiences of Black women who use Internet dating sites, a virtually unexplored demographic, form the basis of this dissertation. This study consisted of 16 interviews and a demographic survey, which were used to examine Black women’s online dating experiences from their perspectives to determine whether or not online dating sites are productive, love-seeking spaces. Data analysis was conducted utilizing a Google Form survey to collect demographic data and NVivo 11 qualitative software to help generate themes that guided analysis. Themes that emerged included: negative and positive perceptions from men; physical and non-physical attributes participants possessed that men found attractive; whether or not men’s perceptions impacted interview participants’ success or failure in online dating, and whether or not participants viewed their online dating experiences to be in line with those of other Black women. Participants discussed how perceptions from men online influenced their racially-gendered online dating experience.

The media industry has incorporated romantic/sexual intimacy as a hot commodity. A prime example is the mobile dating app Tinder, which has served as a site that encourages users to forge intimacy online in non-traditional ways by appealing to the sexual freedom and fun associated with youth hookup culture. Many studies on romantic/sexual intimacy have alerted us to how social hierarchies of race and gender are adroitly concealed in contemporary visual culture through democratic post-civil rights discourses. In tandem with consumer culture, the increased media visibility of young, postfeminist-generation women deflects political discussions and restructures politics within economic principles. There are two problems here.

Online dating is becoming an increasingly used method for meeting significant others. This study had two central goals. The first goal was to explore the factors that contribute to deception used to attract a romantic partner online. The second aim was to discover the reasons that people with different attachment styles might lie as well as their justifications and interpretations for those lies. Male and female single college undergraduates (N = 208), who had previously completed an attachment style measure via an online screening, were asked to complete an online dating profile and an email to a potential dating partner. Participants reviewed these correspondences and noted any inaccuracies. They also completed a questionnaire related to lying in romantic relationships. It was hypothesized that both attachment style and gender would affect lying behavior. For online dating, results indicated that women told more self-oriented and subtle lies than men, and that high attachment avoidance and anxiety predicted greater lying behavior for participants with relationship experience. Offline, attachment predicted the motivations, justifications, and acceptability of lying to romantic partners. Implications related to online dating and attachment processes in relational deception are discussed.

Dating App Facilitated Sexual Assault (DAppSA) is a new phenomenon and growing concern. Research on DAppSA is extremely limited. This study aimed to identify unique victim and assault characteristics associated with DAppSAs. A retrospective SAMFE chart review of patients (N = 3,413) from 2017 to 2020 was conducted. Sexual assault nurse examiners completed SAMFEs. Inclusion criteria for DAppSA cases included 1) victim was 14 years of age or older; 2) victim indicated they met the perpetrator on a dating website or app; 3) the SA occurred at the initial in-person meeting; 4) victim had a SAMFE with evidence collection. DAppSAs were compared to non-DAppSA acquaintance SAs. DAppSAs (n=274) represented 8.02% of overall cases and 13.92% of acquaintance SAs (n=1,968). DAppSA victims had unique characteristics including a higher percentage of male victims (7.5%), college students (22.2%), and victims with self-reported mental illness (59.6%). Victims were less likely to fight back during the assault with lower percentages of kicking (5.8%) and hitting (9%). DAppSA victims and perpetrators were less likely to use drugs or alcohol before/during the assault. DAppSA perpetrators were shown to be more violent and pre-meditated, with higher condom use (15%) rates of washing the victim (13.8%), ejaculation (52.7%), lubrication use (14.2%), and strangulation (32.4%). DAppSAs had more assaultive/penetrative acts with 89.4% reporting penile penetration. DAppSA victims had more documented physical injuries (71.4%) and anogenital injuries (50.2%). DAppSA victims were also found to have unique characteristics and increased vulnerabilities of SA. DAppSA cases were more violent, premeditated, and resulted in more injuries. Implications for nursing practice to address safety concerns and improve care to survivors are discussed.

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Two Studies investigated the relationship between verbal behavior and short-term mate selection. The first study, an observational traditional speed-dating study, collected audio and video recordings of dyadic interactions between men and women in addition to self-report data on whether the participant would like to talk to each date in the future. The second study, a true experiment, employed the use of a researcher confederate to manipulate verbal behavior and attractiveness level of the speed-date partner. Participants were led to believe they were being "matched" with three other undergraduates based upon online profiles. Verbal behavior manipulations included varying valence-based autoclitics (neutral or high) and self-other referential autoclitics in two sequential orders (based on I , you , I /you in relation to one another, and dyadic we frames of reference). During traditional speed-dating, a wide variety of verbal operants were used. In general, dyadic we was not frequently used by participants, imprecise tacting tended to be characteristic of no ratings, and successful speed-daters tended to modify their verbal behavior as appropriate to the specific listener. For online-dating, among the findings concerning the observed relationships between autoclitics, physical attractiveness, and various outcomes in short-term romantic interest, were confederate use of I-to-we sequential progressions with neutral valence tended to best predict longer times spent chatting, as chosen by participants when given the choice to chat more than the five-minute minimum. Additionally, confederate use of I and you in relation to one another was positively correlated with participant interest ratings of the confederate for medium-attractiveness confederates and was negatively correlated with interest ratings for low- and high-attractiveness confederates. Autoclitics moderated the relationship between physical attractiveness of the confederate and yes ratings for both low- and high- attractiveness confederates. Findings from the current projects are discussed in context of general dissemination of verbal behavior and in context of other populations. / Psychology

The development of digitization has resulted in people communicating more digitally. People keep in touch with friends and family on the respective platforms, but we arealso looking for new contacts and relationships online nowadays. Studies have shownthat it was in the 90’s that the phenomenon of online dating started and since then avariety of online dating sites have developed. Today, Tinder is the most used onlinedating site in Sweden. The purpose of the use of online dating sites differs and so doesthe presentation of the people on each online dating profile. The purpose of this essay isto investigate how people choose to present themselves on an online dating site, whatthey think about other people ́s presentations and how they act in the interaction withother people that they meet through an online dating site. The method used for this essay is a quantitative survey that has been distributed on various platforms online. The target group is women and men aged 15–50 who aresingle and active / have been active on some form of online dating site. The survey was answered by 120 respondents.The results of the survey shown a majority looking for a furture partner on each onlinedating site where the personality of a partner is prioritized before appearance. The respondents want to be portrayed as a possible partner, and as a funny and nice person on the online dating site rather than just showing off the super finical qualities ofthemselves. Despite the aspects that appearance is of high priority that previous researchpresents, my results of the survey show something else. The respondents consider themselves as honest people in the search for a future partner.

Geosocial apps on mobile phones use location data to introduce many young adults to other people to initiate various types of relationships. This study examined how established racial preferences affect Straight White Men's (SWM) selection decisions of potential partners in a pseudo-geosocial app when controlling for age, attractiveness, and other profile factors of potential matches. A sample comprising exclusively of SWM was selected because historically, this demographic has benefited most from gender and racial inequalities (Thompson, 2009), and they make up the largest portion of people in interracial relationships in the United States (Livingston & Brown, 2017). We found that SWM were significantly less likely to select profiles of women of color compared to profiles of White women when considering friendship, sexual encounters, dating relationships, or long-term committed relationships such as marriage. Established predictors of negative attitudes toward interracial relationships (e.g., religiosity, political beliefs) had no correlation with SWM's selection behavior in the app, but self-reported openness had a consistent correlation to higher odds of selecting women of all races.

With the capacity to connect millions of singles through the virtual world, online matchmaking has altered the traditional, face-to-face romantic relationship initiation process. Users of online matchmaking sites have easy access to thousands of available singles and can communicate with partners before ever meeting face-to-face. Specific mechanisms by which online matchmaking environments operate are likely to distort both users’ appraisals of other users and users’ appraisals of themselves. This phenomenon in dating has left researchers to speculate about the effectiveness of romantic relationship initiation in such a context, and for relationships that are successfully formed online, whether the effects of online matchmaking extend beyond the relationship initiation process to influence the subsequent progression of romantic relationships. Seventy-five single men and women were recruited and agreed to subscribe to the online matchmaking site Match.com for 30 days. Participants completed measures assessing their individual background characteristics, sociosexual orientation, personality and attachment. In the event that participants scheduled a first date with someone they met through Match.com, they completed pre and post-date measures assessing idealistic distortion of, attention to, and ease of finding alternative dating partners. Upon completion of their 30 days in the study, participants completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing the degree to which they idealistically distorted themselves to other users and their overall satisfaction and experience using Match.com. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the more users’ distorted the vitality and attractiveness of dating partners the less likely users were to experience a second date initiated by the dating partner. Future studies need to consider that traditional models of relationship initiation are out-dated and not applicable to the study of relationship initiation and progression in the context of online matchmaking. Relationship researchers need to investigate: gender differences in filtering potential partners, the function of filtering in such a context, the developmental progression of filtering and the subsequent potential heightened importance of physical attraction verses the importance of compatibility in predicting relationship initiation in the online matchmaking environment. Additionally, future research should involve comparisons of various matchmaking services’, should utilize larger sample sizes and should follow participants for a longer period of time. / text