Socio-demographic determinants of online dating
https://doi.org/10.55959/MSU0130-0105-6-59-5-12
Abstract
Foreign demographic and marketing studies show that online dating services are gaining popularity among young people, especially among university students. At the same time, there has not been a unified classification of goals and motives for dating online which are important both for understanding aspects of population’s marital behavior and for developing such services. In Russian scientific discourse, the topic of meeting students through online dating services remains underexplored. This study is aimed at identifying the main goals of dating in the context of long-term (marriage, having children, love and friendship) and shortterm dating and analyzing the influence of demographic characteristics of Russian students on them. The survey involved 3085 students who had experience in online dating. In the first step, probabilistic probit models were built with 8 dating targets. In the second step, based on factor analysis, dating goals were grouped and additional analysis was carried out on strengthened groups of long-term and short-term dating goals. The following modeling results were obtained: (1) men more often than women pursue both short-term and long-term aims; (2) the popularity of short-term relationships in online space grows with the age of a student; (3) students at universities in the capital are more inclined to get acquainted with long-term goals; (4) marriage, birth and/or raising children is not a priority for students. Yet, longterm relationships with a partner among students are more widespread than short-term ones.
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Review
For citations:
Klimenko G.A. Socio-demographic determinants of online dating. Moscow University Economics Bulletin. 2024;(5):240-264. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.55959/MSU0130-0105-6-59-5-12
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