Are Relationships That Start Online More Happy, or Less?

Source: DeanDrobot/ShutterstockThis post was co-authored by Elizabeth Dorrance-Hall, Associate Professor of Communication, Michigan State University and author of Conscious Communication.If you decide to get married (or if you already are), your choice of a spouse is one of the most important decisions you ever make. Increasingly people are turning to online dating for help with finding “the one.” Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center issued a report revealing that 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. (and 1 in 5 under the age of 30) who are in a serious relationship (i.e., married, cohabiting, or committed) met through online dating. However, until now, not much was known about online dating’s long-term effects on relationships.In a new study in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, we conducted a survey comparing the marriages of 923 people who met their spouse either in online dating or offline. We stratified our sample to ensure equal representation of online and offline daters and m...