Dating App Use, Self-Disclosure, and Life Satisfaction Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men: An Exploratory Study from Taiwan

Abstract

Research on the relationship between dating app use and life satisfaction has produced mixed findings. This study, based on survey data from 330 self-identified young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (aged 18 to 34) in Taiwan, investigates how dating app use is associated with life satisfaction. Conditional process analysis found that greater self-disclosure on dating apps was directly linked to improved life satisfaction and indirectly linked through reduced internalized homonegativity. Bivariate correlation analyses revealed that using dating apps for purposes such as seeking love, ease of communication, self-worth validation, excitement, and trendiness was positively associated with greater self-disclosure. Sequential mediation analyses further showed that using dating apps for trendiness had an indirect positive association with life satisfaction, both through increased self-disclosure alone and through a combination of greater self-disclosure and decreased internalized homonegativity. The findings suggest that fostering genuine communication on dating apps may serve as a potential pathway to enhancing the life satisfaction of young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.