Social compensation or rich-get-richer? The role of social competence in college students’ use of the Internet to find a partner

Online dating continues to grow rapidly in popularity every day, yet the role of social competence in online dating behavior remains unclear. This study was designed to expand previous research and conduct a comprehensive investigation on how social competence is associated with college students’ online dating behaviors, perceptions, and attitudes. Two hypotheses were tested: The social compensation hypothesis (SCH)—socially incompetent individuals would engage in more online dating, and the rich-get-richer hypothesis (RGRH)—socially competent individuals would use online dating more than their incompetent counterparts. The results showed that incompetent individuals, despite their ability to see benefits in online dating, did not show a favorable attitude towards online dating. They indicated a more frequent use of and a stronger preference for face-to-face dating compared to online dating, which contradicted the SCH. There were weak associations between competence traits and online dating behavior. Socially competent individuals perceived less benefit and showed less interest in online dating, which disconfirmed the RGRH.

► We examined the role of social competence in college students’ online dating behaviors.
► Neither the social compensation hypothesis nor the rich-get-richer hypothesis was supported.
► Competence had little association with actual use and preference of online dating.
► Incompetent individuals used and preferred face-to-face dating more compared to online dating.
► Competent individuals perceived less benefit and showed less interest in online dating.