Tinder Motivations and Usage of Tinder on Students’ Self Esteem and Body Image / Syamin Naillah Shamsul Azhar

Tinder has seen an increase of users ever since its launch in 2012 mostly among the millennials however, there has not been a study conducted to investigate why this generation use Tinder. With that, the aim of this study is to identify main motivations students use Tinder. This study was tested out among students of UiTM ranging from 18-25 year old with the completion of an online survey. Out of the sample (n=112), more than half the respondents were females. A series of motivations were listed in the survey indicating motivations to use Tinder such as to pass time, to communicate online, to find someone, to entertain. Contradicting to prior literature, the using Tinder to pass time appeared to be a stronger motivation than other motivations. However, there is a difference in motivation between genders whereby male respondents have reported to use Tinder to gratify sexual needs. Male respondents have also reported to score higher in using Tinder as a way of gaining self confidence than female. With regard to gender and age, frequency of Tinder usage is positively related to self esteem. Body image however, does not have a significant relationship to frequency and length of Tinder usage. To sum up, the study showed that each gender has a different motivation of using Tinder and using Tinder can affect self esteem.