TikTok and Romantic Relationships: A Qualitative Descriptive Analysis

Although research has identified how and why individuals use TikTok, it’s unclear how these behaviors and motivations impact close relationships. Using tenets from the uses and gratifications theory and media multiplexity theory, the goal of this study is to describe how emerging adults use TikTok in the context of romantic relationships. This qualitative study employed a descriptive design, where undergraduate college students completed an individual interview via Zoom (N = 64) describing how TikTok was used during relationship development and maintenance. Four research assistants and two principal investigators analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analyses applying Braun and Clarke’s (2022) six-step approach. The resulting themes regarding how emerging adults used TikTok in relationships were: (1) relationship initiation, (2) viewing relationship content, (3) sharing content in relationship, and (4) posting relationship content. Participants also described their use of TikTok in relationships as a potential source of conflict. Implications for TikTok use in relationships, including comparisons to other social media platforms, are discussed.