Does Engagement in Online Dating Lead to Greater Dating Success for Rejection Sensitive Individuals?

Individuals high in rejection sensitivity have a lower rates of dating success and a lower probability of being in a romantic relationship, but could engaging in online dating improve the likelihood? The goal of this research is to determine whether individuals higher in rejection sensitivity indicate having more success in meeting potential romantic partners online when compared to meeting potential partners conventionally. It is hypothesized that individuals higher in rejection sensitivity will be more successful on first dates when initiated though online dating sites / apps rather than through more conventional ways of meeting potential romantic partners. An online survey was created asking participants to complete the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire to evaluate the level of anxiety experienced when faced with potential rejection, the Online Dating Inventory to assess engagement in online dating, and the Conventional Offline Dating Inventory, a measure created by the researchers to assess behaviors that allow the participants to meet possible romantic partners in every day life through non-internet activities. Success is operationally defined according to the goals participants had going into the date and whether or not that goal was achieved. Data collection is still ongoing; however, we expect to see significantly more success for participants higher in rejection sensitivity when initiating through online dating websites. To ensure external validity, data are being collected from two different articipation pools. Currently the survey is being administered through Sona to reach college students and these are the data that will be presented. The survey will also be uploaded to Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to reach older adults. If our hypothesis is correct, this would indicate that online dating may benefit those individuals who are high in rejection sensitivity as it could give them an alternative avenue to initiating romantic relationships and possibly finding success in those relationships