Dating Apps May Help Women with Anxiety and Depression

A new study found that people who suffer from anxiety and depression, especially now during the pandemic, benefit from using dating apps – and those helped were mainly women.

According to Scientific Times, researchers from Ryerson University in Canada analyzed symptoms of social anxiety and “the use, motivation, and interaction associated with dating apps.” 

The researchers found that as lockdowns took place and people were physically isolated from one another, women turned to dating apps to feel connection and ease symptoms like depression. Many singles have felt increasingly disconnected during the pandemic, with some looking to dating apps for a quick quarantine partner as an alternative to being alone.

The increasing use of dating apps over the years has also given those who struggle with meeting new people a platform that is less intimidating to navigate. Rejecting someone you’ve never met over a dating app is less of a blow then rejecting them in person, and it’s easier to reach out and flirt over an app than it is to do so face to face, reducing social anxiety.

Interestingly, the study found that women were more likely to turn to dating apps for connection when they felt depression and anxiety, while men with greater feelings of depression and anxiety avoided messaging matches on dating apps. 

“With increased symptoms of social anxiety and depression, women maybe even more likely to turn to technology for social connection, especially if alternative forms of social contact are reduced due to social avoidance,” said study author Martin Antony from Ryerson University in Canada.

However, women in general – regardless of whether or not they showed symptoms of depression or anxiety – were unlikely to initiate contact with matches. Despite the efforts of apps like Bumble to give women more power and control over the dating app experience, many women still prefer to be contacted by potential dates rather than reaching out themselves. But if the men don’t reach out because they are feeling depressed or anxious, communication – and therefore connection - breaks down.

The study suggested that in this way dating apps might not be as effective at connection as we might think, because they fail in “circumventing barriers to relationship initiation,” according to Scientific Times. 

According to India New England, there were 374 participants in the study who agreed to a battery of questionnaires that examined their behavior in conjunction with dating app use.  

"With mobile dating apps increasingly figuring into today's dating landscape, research studies such as Professor Antony's are vital to understanding their merits as well as their shortcomings," said Dr. Brenda K. Wiederhold from the California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute.