Relationship between the perception of intimate relationships and the use of online dating applications among students in Zadar

Online aplikacije za upoznavanje su jednostavan i popularan način upoznavanja potencijalnih romantičnih partnera. S obzirom da su mladi gotovo uvijek povezani preko mobitela, ovakve aplikacije lako su prihvaćene. Na koji način su se intimni odnosi mijenjali i kako je tehnologija utjecala na to bit će dijelom ovoga rada. Polazeći od teorijskih koncepata Zygmunta Baumana, Anthony Giddensa, Aarona Ben-Ze'eva ovo se istraživanje fokusiralo na iskustvo korištenja online dating aplikacija, te kako je ono povezano sa percepcijom o intimnim odnosima i razinom religioznosti. Provedena je online anketa na uzorku od 142 studenta Sveučilišta u Zadru te se pokušalo doznati nešto više o općenitim razmišljanjima studenata o aplikacijama za upoznavanje, njihovim motivima i učestalosti korištenja, te njihovim stavovima o intimnim odnosima i religioznosti. Pretpostavilo se da će ispitanici iz većih gradova češće koristiti aplikacije te da će se njihovo mišljenje o njima razlikovati. S obzirom na stavove o intimnosti pretpostavila se i razlika u korištenju te razini religioznosti. Rezultati istraživanja su pokazali koje se aplikacije najviše koriste, motive i učestalost. Nadalje je pokazano kako ne postoje statistički značajna povezanost između veličine naselja u kojem su ispitanici odrasli i korištenja online aplikacija za upoznavanje kao ni mišljenja o istima. No pokazalo se da postoje statistički značajne razlike ispitanika u stavovima o intimnosti s obzirom na ne/korištenje i religioznost, te se pokazala slabija negativna povezanost korištenja aplikacija za neobavezne seksualne odnose i straha od povezivanja s drugima.Online dating apps are an easy and popular way to meet potential romantic partners. Since young people are almost always connected via mobile phones, such applications are easily accepted. How intimate relationships have changed and how technology has affected this will be part of this paper. Starting from the theoretical concepts of Zygmunt Bauman, Anthony Giddens, Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, this research focused on the experience of using online dating applications, and how it is related to the perception of intimate relationships and the level of religiosity. An online survey was conducted on a sample of 142 students at the University of Zadar and tried to find out more about students' general thoughts about dating apps, their motives and frequency of use, and their attitudes about intimate relationships and religiosity. It was assumed that respondents from larger cities would use the applications more often and that their opinions about them would differ. With regard to attitudes about intimacy, a difference in use and level of religiosity was also assumed. The results of the research showed which applications are most used, motives and frequency. It was further shown that there is no statistically significant correlation between the size of the settlement in which the respondents grew up and the use of online dating applications as well as opinions about them. However, it turned out that there are statistically significant differences in respondents' attitudes about intimacy with regard to non-use and religiosity, and there was a weaker negative association between the use of applications for casual sex and fear of connecting with others