You may have seen some recent coverage of a study that says online dating leads to more breakups than meeting IRL, but before you go crazy with the delete button on all your profiles, you should definitely take a closer look at the facts.
The study in question, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, uses data collected by researchers from Stanford between 2009-2011 for another study called “How Couples Meet and Stay Together.” This current study looks at three “waves” of surveys over time to analyze relationship outcomes for couples who met both online and offline.
The first wave of data from 2009 includes a sample of 2,923 respondents, of which 1,876 reported being married and 1,047 reported being in a romantic relationship. Out of the total sample, only 280 met their partners online. By the time the second wave of data was collected in 2010 using online and phone surveys, 32 percent of unmarried couples who met online had broken up versus 23 percent of couples who had met offline. There was no significant change for married couples until the third wave of data was collected, which found that eight percent of married couples who met their spouse online had broken up, while only 2 percent of couples who had met offline had split up.
According to those findings, it seems that online daters were a little more likely to break up and divorce than couples who met offline. But let's remember that these participants were recruited way back in 2009, when online dating wasn't nearly as prevalent as it is today. Plus, only 280 people who met their partners online were taking part in the study, so it's tough to say if their experiences would really translate to the rest of the online dating population—especially several years later.
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We asked study author Aditi Paul, Ph.D., about these limitations, and she said that the ideal data pool would be more current and include people between the ages of 25-30 to capture the highest percentage of online daters. Still, she says her findings should hold true based on the fact that it is the behaviors and the approach that often come along with online dating that causes the higher failure rate.
What does she mean by that? Paul says that online dating often fosters the idea that there are tons of people out there at the click of a button if your current situation doesn't work out. In this way, it's possible that some people who meet online may not take the bond as seriously as they would if they met offline.
While that could be true, it's also completely possible that some people choose online dating for the exact opposite reason: They're ready for a real commitment and want to cut through some of the noise. "The success of your relationship depends on the intention of both partners who are involved in the relationship," says Paul. So of course it's possible that people meeting on Match with the right intentions could have more success than a couple who met casually at a bar.
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In fact, another recent eHarmony survey found that married couples who met online have an edge on relationship satisfaction and longevity. Paul affirmed she was “in no way suggesting that their claims are wrong” but only pointing out that there could be more than meets the eye when it comes to research suggesting online dating is king.
Still, it seems that if this same study were conducted today, with so many more people meeting up online, the data could show a totally different picture. Regardless, it points to the fact that there's no proven method to meeting The One, but your intentions when it comes to finding and maintaining a relationship are probably the most important piece of the puzzle. Check out our dating center for helpful advice no matter where you're looking to meet someone new.
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