Psychological Drivers of Dating App Use: FOMO, Sensation Seeking, and their Impact on Well-being

Description

Veena Prathap, Shyam Sundar R., Hamshini S.P., and Rakshitha K. (Department of Psychology, DDGD Vaishnav College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu)

Fear of missing out (FOMO) has emerged as an important psychological phenomenon that refers to the anxiety of being excluded from rewarding experiences and is linked to an increased desire for social connection and belongingness (Lai et al., 2016). Simultaneously, the increasing popularity of dating apps has transformed how young adults initiate and maintain romantic relationships (Bandinelli & Gandini, 2022) making it important to understand the psychological factors associated with their use. Although there are many studies on this phenomenon, the number of studies addressing the interrelationships between the variables such as FOMO, sensation seeking, dating app use and psychological well-being is notably limited. This quantitative study thereby investigates whether FOMO contributes to sensation-seeking behaviour, influences dating app usage, and impacts psychological well-being. A total of 147 participants aged 18-35 years were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling, and the scales used for the current study are the Fear of Missing Out Scale (Przybylski et al., 2013), the Brief Sensation seeking scale (Hoyle et al., 2002), the Problematic Online Dating Apps Use Scale (Gori et al., 2024) and Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-being (Ryff, 1995). The findings revealed that FOMO predicted problematic dating app use positively and predicted psychological well-being negatively. Problematic dating app use also significantly predicted lower psychological well-being. Furthermore, sensation-seeking behaviour was significantly higher among dating app users than non-users; however, no significant relationship was found between sensation seeking and problematic dating app use. The study thereby tries to pinpoint young adults’ key emotional vulnerabilities in dating app engagement and guide mental health strategies to promote long-lasting well-being.