Are men intimidated by highly educated women? Undercover on Tinder

B-Tier
Journal: Economics of Education Review
Year: 2019
Volume: 73
Issue: C

Authors (3)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

In this study, we examine the impact of an individual's education level on her/his mating success on the mobile dating app Tinder. To do so, we conducted a field experiment on Tinder in which we collected data on 3,600 profile evaluations. In line with previous research on mating preferences from multiple fields, our results indicate a heterogeneous effect of education level by gender: while women strongly prefer a highly educated potential partner, this hypothesis is rejected for men. In contrast with recent influential studies from the field of economics, we do not find any evidence that men would have an aversion to a highly educated potential partner. Additionally, in contrast with most previous research – again from multiple fields – we do not find any evidence for preferences for educational assortative mating, i.e. preferring a partner with a similar education level.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:ecoedu:v:73:y:2019:i:c:s0272775719301104
Journal Field
Education
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-24