Online Dating Site Use to Cope with Minority Stress in Gay and Bisexual Men in Germany: Findings from Two Survey Studies

Abstract

Objective

For gay and bisexual men who are confronted with minority stress, online dating sites may provide opportunities for coping. Extant research has largely neglected this, and those pieces that did address it did not sufficiently account for different motivations of use.

Methods

Two survey studies served to explore links between minority stress, online dating use, and well-being (Study 1: N = 97, Study 2: N = 25,884).

Results

The present work finds evidence that the use of online dating sites may have limited buffering effects on associations between minority stress and well-being.

Conclusions

The findings contribute to existing work on online dating and the mental health of gay and bisexual men.

Keywords:

• Minority stress
• online dating sites
• coping
• well-being

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

1 The pre-registration file can be found here: https://osf.io/wgzn6?view_only=0c6dd170b54d410ea40cdfb327f10157.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.