Covid Compatibility and Risk Negotiation in Online Dating during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Bibliographic Data

ID3756746
AuthorsApryl A Williams (University of Michigan), Apryl Williams (0000-0003-4896-9366, University of Michigan, corresponding author), G H Miller (0000-0002-5606-5079, Mississippi State University), Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde (0000-0002-5382-165X, Utah State University)
Year2021
Volume65
Issue14
Pages1951-1971
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027642211050902
OpenAlexW3210023125
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited42

We interviewed 31 individuals about their online dating life and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use literature on risk and health behaviors to generate four frames for dealing with risk associated with COVID-19 while dating: 1) Unconcerned about Risk, 2) Preliminary Risk Assessment, 3) Active Risk Negotiation, and 4) Risk Aversion. Further, we argue that risk perception causes daters to use implicit and explicit communication about health behaviors to determine COVID compatibility, a state of being in agreement with a partner about how to best minimize risk of contracting COVID-19. Daters want to know that their partner is behaving with similar regard for health guidance and that they are doing their best to keep those in their communities safe. Though daters may transition between frames throughout the course of the pandemic, we use these four frames to identify sets of beliefs, routines, and personal health practices across our sample that have relevance for social scientists, health communication scholars, and health care practitioners

Business · Computer security · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Disease · Health care · Infectious disease (medical specialty) · Negotiation · Pandemic · Perception · Political science · Public relations · Risk assessment · Risk management · Risk perception · Sociology · Computer Science · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Medicine · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology

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