Too many swipes for today: The development of the Problematic Tinder Use Scale (PTUS)

Background and aims Tinder is a very popular smartphone-based geolocated dating application. The goal of the present study was creating a short Problematic Tinder Use Scale (PTUS). Methods Griffiths' ( 2005 ) six-component model was implemented for covering all components of problematic Tinder use. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out on a Tinder user sample (N = 430). Results Both the 12- and the 6-item versions were tested. The 6-item unidimensional structure has appropriate reliability and factor structure. No salient demography-related differences were found. Users irrespectively to their relationship status have similar scores on PTUS. Discussion Tinder users deserve the attention of scientific examination considering their large proportion among smartphone users. It is especially true considering the emerging trend of geolocated online dating applications. Conclusions Before PTUS, no prior scale has been created to measure problematic Tinder use. The PTUS is a suitable and reliable measure to assess problematic Tinder use.