In order to dive into the world of infidelity, we first have to take into account the fact that infidelity is a fairly common experience for young adults, particularly among college students. Wiederman and Hurd (1999) found that 49% of male and 31% of female college students had engaged in sexual infidelity. In undergraduate samples from two geographically distinct universities, Weiser (2012) found that approximately 30% of college students reported having engaged in infidelity. This simply means that the intent to participate in infidelity is rooted early on and practiced commonly even before the age of digital social media and the obsession we have today with technology. The digital age has only simplified and increased both ease of access and opportunity for partners in a relationship to engage in the act of infidelity. 

 

In a study conducted by a large, public, southwestern U.S. university to better understand the intentions to engage in infidelity through the use of Tinder, a group of 550 participants (169 men, 373 women) were sampled. The average age of participants was 20.86 years old (18–33 years, SD = 1.82), and most participants were White (68.3%). The majority of participants identified as heterosexual (93.7%). Among participants, 277 were not currently in a relationship (51.1%), 41 were dating multiple people (7.6%), 196 were dating one person exclusively (36.2%), 19 were cohabitating (3.5%), five were engaged (0.9%), three were married (0.6%), and one was divorced (0.2%).

 

Participants were recruited through the subject pool of the College of Media and Communication at the researchers' university. To participate in the study, individuals had to be either past or current Tinder users. Participants received class credit for participation in the study. All procedures were approved by the university's Institutional Review Board. All participants anonymously completed the following measures online via Qualtrics. The data reported in this study come from a larger study on Tinder usage.

 

Astonishingly, 63.9% of participants in the study responded “Yes” to have “seen somebody on Tinder who knew was in an exclusive relationship” while 36.1% of participants responded with “No.” 

 

In addition, over 73.1% of respondents answered “Yes” to the question “Male friends used Tinder while in a relationship.” And 56.1% of participants answered “Yes” to the question “Female friends used Tinder while in a relationship.”

 

When asked “How often people use Tinder to cheat,” respondents answered with the following: never (2.3%), rarely (8.7%), sometimes (44.6%), often (32.4%), and all the time (12.0%). 

 

In short, Tinder exponentially increases the ability to encounter other people and therefore increase potential cases of infidelity. The direct correlation between Tinder use and infidelity is hand-in-hand.

Based on the data conducted by the research group, Tinder is often used to engage in the act of infidelity, particularly in the college student age demographic.