Digital Dating and Mental Health (DATING-MIND)
Digital Dating and Mental Health (DATING-MIND)
Name of applicant
Malthe Rye Thomsen
Title
PhD-fellow
Institution
University of California, Los Angeles
Amount
DKK 2,703,473
Year
2026
Type of grant
Internationalisation Fellowships
What?
The DATING-MIND project examines how the use of dating apps shapes young people’s psychological well-being. It develops a new theoretical framework that brings moral anthropology into dialogue with research on digital intimacy to understand how continuous exposure to evaluation, depersonalization, and abrupt relationship endings gives rise to a fundamental uncertainty about one’s own worth.
Why?
Public concern about young people's mental health in relation to digital media has increased in recent years. While international research points to links between dating app use and psychological well-being, it remains underexplored in a Danish context. This research contributes to understanding how and why dating app experiences matter in everyday life and affect young people’s well-being.
How?
The project follows 25 young people over time to understand how their dating experiences shape their emotional life and self-understanding. It combines in-depth interviews, digital logbook ethnography where participants document their experiences in real time, and survey data among young Danes to capture how self-worth and mental well-being develop through their use of dating apps.