This study aims to explore the relationship between online dating software usage and interpersonal needs and love style among unmarried young adults between twenty-two and thirty years old. The participants comprise 435 unmarried young adults from age 22 to 33 who have dating experience and have used a dating software within one year. The measurements used in this study include the Scale of Interpersonal Propensity, the Scale of Love Style and the Scale of Dating Software Status. The data obtained from the samples is analyzed by one way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, and canonical analysis. The findings are as follows:
1. The interpersonal needs of unmarried young adults lean towards “want affection” and “want inclusion”; their love styles inclines towards “romantic style” and “sincere and involved style”. The motivation for using online dating software tends to be “convenience in making friends“ while user function emphasizes on “communication”.
2. Male participants scored higher on “expressed inclusion” for interpersonal needs while female participants scored higher on “romantic style” for love styles.
3. For user motivation in online dating software, female participants scored higher on “anonymity and reassurance” while male participants sccored higher on “seeking sexual partner”. For user functions, male participants scored higher on “assorted dating functions”, “completing basic information” and “organizing personal page” than female participants.
4. There is no significant difference between different identities in interpersonal needs and love styles.
5. There is a statistically significant difference between different identities in their motivation of "reducing difficulties in making friends" in using online dating software; there is no significant difference in the usage status.
6. There are some statistically significant correlations between interpersonal needs, love styles, user motivation and usage status in online dating software.
7. The first canonical analysis found that dating software users are likely to be passive in their interpersonal interactions and that there is generally a gap between expectations and reality, hence the reason for using dating software.The second canonical correlation analysis found that dating software users can be divided into those who are motivated by social media trends and those who have a more specific purpose in using the tool.
This study discusses the findings and proposes suggestions for pracitical application and future research.
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