College Student Use Of The Internet For Mate Selection - Statistical Data Included

College Student Journal, March, 2001 by David Knox, Vivian Daniels, Lakisha Sturdivant, Marty E. Zusman

One-hundred-ninety-one never married undergraduate university students completed an anonymous 28 item questionnaire designed to assess their attitudes toward and involvement in use of the Internet to find a mate. The data revealed that friendship, not romance or sex, was the primary goal of using the Internet among these college students. Other findings included that over sixty percent of these respondents were successful in establishing an on line friendship, almost half said they felt more comfortable meeting a person on line than in person, and forty percent reported that they had lied on line. Implications for university faculty, therapists, and students are suggested.

Almost two-thirds (65%) of college students report the use of a computer with males reporting greater use than females (68% vs. 62%) (Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1999, Table 289). One of the newest trends in finding a partner is doing so on line. Parks et al (1998) noted that virtual on line interactions provide a powerful context for the formation of personal relationships. With this in mind, over 200 web sites offer the chance to meet a partner on line. "Match.com", one of the largest matchmaking services, reports registering 500 people a day, two thirds of which are men (Neville, 1997). This study examined data from a sample of undergraduate students in regard to their attitudes toward and experience with finding a mate on line.

Data

The data consisted of 191 never married undergraduates enrolled in courtship and marriage courses at a large southeastern university who voluntarily completed an anonymous 28 questionnaire designed to assess their attitude toward and involvement in the use of the Internet for selecting a mate. Among the respondents, 67.5% were women; 32.5% were men. The median age was 20 with a range of 18-44. Respondents were predominately white (84.2%) with 15.8% reporting that they were non-white (of which 9.9% were African-American).

Findings and Discussion

Analysis of the data revealed several findings:

1. Friendship, not romance or a mate, was the goal of Internet use among these college students. Over forty percent of our respondents reported that their goal in meeting new people on the Internet was to find someone as a friend. Looking for romance or a potential mate were goals for only 1% and .5% of the respondents respectively. Those seeking a partner tended to know what they were looking for. The highest percentage of respondents reported that they were looking for honesty (86%), someone who "loves me" (83%), dependability (70%), and being faithful and monogamous (69%) as characteristics they regarded as absolutely essential in a future spouse.

2. Most respondents were successful meeting someone on line. Sixty percent (59.8) of the respondents reported that they had met someone on line. A quarter (25.7%) of these became friendships. Parks and Floyd (1996) reported that once individuals meet on line, they migrate to other forms of communication (postal mail, telephone, and meeting). In a previous study by Parks et al. (1998), thirty -three percent of the on line relationships in their sample resulted in face-to-face meetings. Sixteen percent of our respondents ended up meeting the person face to face.

3. Love relationships occurred for some. Seven percent of our respondents reported that they became emotionally involved and two percent ended up living together.

4. Anxiety reduction was a major function of using the Internet to meet new people. Almost half (49.2%) of the respondents reported that they felt "less shy on the Internet than face to face." Schnarch (1997) observed that on line interaction promotes a high degree of self-presentation and makes it easier for persons to take small relationship steps. Similarly, Wysocki (1998) reported that on line communications occur in a context which makes it easier and quicker for persons to get to know each other. Cooper and Sportolari (1997) advised therapists to emphasize to their shy clients the value of using the computer to enhance social skills and confidence.

5. Sex was not a focus of these college Internet users. While it is commonly assumed that high proportions of college students using the Internet are seeking a cybersex partner, less than three percent (2.6%) of our respondents reported this as a goal. However, over three quarters (77.4%) reported ever having visited a sex site and five percent had given their credit card to view a sex site. As might be expected, men were significantly (p [is less than] .001) more likely to have ever visited a sex site.

6. Men and woman reported similar uses of the Internet. Aside from men being significantly (p [is less than] .05) more likely than women to report having viewed a sex site, men were also significantly more likely than women to report "relaxation and escape" as the primary reason for using the Internet. (As an aside, Warnick, 1999, reported that women were less likely to use the computer at all since "technology" has been more often associated with masculinity.) Beyond these findings, there were no significant differences between women and men and Internet usage. "Research/academics" (professors will be glad to hear this) was the primary reason listed by over half (53%) of the respondents with "social interests" being listed by 44% as the primary reason for Internet usage.