Dating apps are increasingly used across the adult lifespan, yet little is known about age-related differences in dating app motivations and the links to psychological well-being. In this cross-sectional study, 301 dating app users (18-86 years; M = 52.4, SD = 16.5) self-reported five motivations (social approval, relationship seeking, sexual experience, socializing, and entertainment), as well as life satisfaction, loneliness, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Older age among dating app users was associated with lesser sexual experience, relationship seeking, and social approval motivations but higher socializing motivation, with no age differences in entertainment motivation. Greater social approval motivation predicted higher levels of loneliness among older adults but not young adults. This suggests that, among older dating app users, greater loneliness may increase the desire to gain social approval, and/or seeking social approval in older age may increase loneliness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Liang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.