Dr. Marina Frederike Thomas

Postdoctoral Researcher, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences Lecturer, Department of Communication, University of Vienna

Media psychologist and communication scientist studying how digital technologies — from dating apps to smartphones — shape romantic relationships, sexuality, and mental well-being.

Citation count per Google Scholar, July 2026.

About

Three paper hearts beside a smartphone on warm cream paper

Marina Frederike Thomas is a media psychologist and communication scientist whose research examines how digital technologies shape romantic relationships, sexuality, and mental well-being. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Centre Transitional Psychiatry at Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences in Krems, Austria, and has various teaching experience, at six different universities.

She received her PhD in communication science from the University of Vienna in 2023 with a dissertation on decision-making on dating apps and its consequences for well-being, following a research master in behavioural science at Radboud University Nijmegen. Her work has appeared in leading journals including New Media & Society, Media Psychology, Computers in Human Behavior, the Journal of Medical Internet Research, and Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Her current research focuses on digital mental health in psychiatric populations and on the mental health of young people in transition to adulthood — including anhedonia, problematic online dating, and how self-harm urges and behaviors manifest in digital environments — combining perspectives from media psychology, social psychology, and clinical research. Another research interest is digital sexual health.

Research

Research Interests

  • media psychology
  • social psychology
  • digital mental health
  • online dating & romantic relationships
  • sexuality & sexting
  • digital sexual health
  • digital self-harm
  • digital well-being
  • smartphone use & attention
  • adolescent & young-adult mental health
  • anhedonia

Digital Self-Harm

Digital Self-Harm is an umbrella term for various digitally facilitated behaviours that involve self-harm. Some forms of Digital Self-Harm extend physical self-harm into online spaces, while other forms are solely conducted online (e.g., damaging one’s reputation online). My research programme includes a combination of four studies:

  • Systematic literature review
  • Qualitative online survey in affected individuals (experts by experience)
  • Qualitative online survey in professionals (experts by education)
  • Online vignette experiment

All studies were approved by the institutional review board of Karl Landsteiner University. Follow-up studies are planned but depend on ethical approval and funding.

Swiping on Dating Apps

On dating apps, swiping means that users can browse through profiles by thumb-brushing left or right to reject or accept a profile. Only in case of mutual acceptance do users receive a notification, a match. Thereby, users can collect matches without risking visible rejections. My doctoral research consisted of five studies on the psychological effects of swiping on dating apps:

Across studies, the mere frequency of dating app use was unrelated to detrimental outcomes. However, different aspects of swiping – namely excessive swiping, swiping in assessment mode, and evaluating abundant dating options – were clearly linked to increased fear of being single and partner choice overload, while receiving matches induced overload but failed to decrease fear of being single.

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

20 articles, grouped by year, newest first — show the list

In press

  • Thomas, M. F., Binder, A., & Matthes, J. (in press). Sexting privacy management: Who cares and how? Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace.

2026

  • Thomas, M. F., Mittmann, G., Dorczok, M. C., & Steiner-Hofbauer, V. (2026). Not feeling it: Modifiable correlates of anhedonia. Behavioral Sciences, 16(4), 533. doi:10.3390/bs16040533
  • Mittmann, G., Dorczok, M. C., Thomas, M. F., Schwarzott, F., & Steiner-Hofbauer, V. (2026). A qualitative analysis of self-reported pleasurable experiences of young adults and implications for measures of anhedonia. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 48(1), 7. doi:10.1007/s10862-026-10268-6
  • Dorczok, M. C., Mossaheb, N., Mittmann, G., Thomas, M. F., Bartova, L., Schrank, B., & Steiner-Hofbauer, V. (2026). Use and perceived helpfulness of different intervention strategies in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and depression. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 15(2), 849. doi:10.3390/jcm15020849

2025

  • Thomas, M. F., Mittmann, G., & Steiner-Hofbauer, V. (2025). The Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) and Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale (DARS) diverge in measuring anhedonia in a community sample of young adults. Psychiatry Research, 353, 116736. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116736
  • Thomas, M. F., Binder, A., & Matthes, J. (2025). Decision-making on dating apps: Is swiping more less and swiping right wrong? Media Psychology, 1–32. doi:10.1080/15213269.2025.2555430
  • Hu, J. M., & Thomas, M. F. (2025). Are anxiously attached dating app users less successful and feel worse after use? The moderating effect of platform anonymity. Information, Communication & Society. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2025.2539294
  • Thomas, M. F., Dörfler, S., Mittmann, G., & Steiner-Hofbauer, V. (2025). Problematic online dating: Systematic review of definitions, correlates, and study designs. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 27, e72850. doi:10.2196/72850
  • Karsay, K., Thomas, M. F., & Matthes, J. (2025). Inspiration for perspiration? Two experiments testing the psychological effects of fitspiration. Psychology of Popular Media, 14(3), 339–353. doi:10.1037/ppm0000605
  • Thomas, M. F., & Buijzen, M. (2025). The influence of a porn literacy intervention on explicit and implicit attitudes. Studies in Communication and Media, 14(1), 8–36. doi:10.5771/2192-4007-2025-1-8
  • Binder, A., Stević, A., Matthes, J., & Thomas, M. F. (2025). Dating algorithms? Investigating the reciprocal relationships between partner choice FOMO, decision fatigue, excessive swiping, and trust in algorithms on dating apps. New Media & Society, 27(12), 6396–6415. doi:10.1177/14614448241270542

2023

  • Thomas, M. F., Binder, A., & Matthes, J. (2023). The psychological influence of dating app matches: The more matches the merrier? New Media & Society. doi:10.1177/14614448231161598
  • Stević, A., Schmuck, D., Thomas, M. F., Karsay, K., & Matthes, J. (2023). Distracted children? Nighttime smartphone use, children's attentional problems, and school performance over time. Journal of Early Adolescence. doi:10.1177/02724316231164734
  • Matthes, J., Stević, A., Koban, K., Thomas, M. F., Forrai, M., & Karsay, K. (2023). Fear of missing out, reflective smartphone disengagement, and loneliness in late adolescents. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. doi:10.1089/cyber.2023.0014
  • Thomas, M. F., Binder, A., Stević, A., & Matthes, J. (2023). 99+ matches but a spark ain't one: Adverse psychological effects of excessive swiping on young dating app users. Telematics and Informatics. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2023.101949

2022

  • Thomas, M. F., Binder, A., & Matthes, J. (2022). "Love in the time of Corona": Predicting willingness to engage in sexting during the first COVID-19-related lockdown. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi:10.1007/s10508-022-02292-w
  • Thomas, M. F., Binder, A., & Matthes, J. (2022). The agony of partner choice: The effects of excessive partner availability on fear of being single, self-esteem, and partner choice overload. Computers in Human Behavior, 126, 106977. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2021.106977
  • Stević, A., Schmuck, D., Koemets, A., Hirsch, M., Karsay, K., Thomas, M. F., & Matthes, J. (2022). Privacy concerns can stress you out: Investigating the reciprocal relationship between mobile social media privacy concerns and perceived stress. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research. doi:10.1515/commun-2020-0037

2021

  • Matthes, J., Thomas, M. F., Stević, A., & Schmuck, D. (2021). Fighting over smartphones? Parents' excessive smartphone use, lack of control over children's use, and conflict. Computers in Human Behavior, 116, 106618. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106618

2019

  • Van der Helm, L., Thomas, M. F., Witteman, C., De Kwaadsteniet, L., & Van Doesum, K. (2019). "Als je de ouder kwijt bent, dan help je het kind niet": Gebruik van de Meldcode huiselijk geweld en kindermishandeling in de GGZ ["You're not helping the child if you scare the parent away": Why mental health care workers do not report their clients' child maltreatment]. Tijdschrift Klinische Psychologie, 49(2), 139–156. PDF

Full publication list on Google Scholar.

Publications in non-indexed journals

2 articles — show the list
  • Thomas, M. F., Dörfler, S., Mittmann, G., & Steiner-Hofbauer, V. (2025). Internet, dating, addiction: A match made in heaven. In-Mind, 9. in-mind.org
  • Thomas, M. F. (2024). Psychologische Effekte des Swipens auf Dating-Apps [Psychological effects of swiping on dating apps]. Psychologie in Österreich, 3, 208–216. PDF

Curriculum Vitae

Research Experience

09/2025 – present
Researcher (postdoc), Association for the Promotion of Scientific Research at Wilhelminenspital, Vienna — psychiatric research (e.g., depressive symptoms during the menstrual cycle). Supervisor: Beate Schrank (psychiatry).
06/2024 – present
Researcher (postdoc), Karl Landsteiner University, Transitional Psychiatry, Krems — digital mental health in transition-age youth (e.g., digital self-harm). Supervisor: Verena Steiner-Hofbauer (clinical psychology).
10/2019 – 10/2023
Researcher (predoctoral), Advertising and Media Psychology research group, University of Vienna — technology use (smartphone use, dating apps, sexting) and well-being. Supervisor: Jörg Matthes (communication science).

Education

2019–2023
Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Vienna, Austria (PhD).
2016–2019
Research Master Behavioral Science, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands.
01/2015 – 06/2015
Exchange semester, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey.
2012–2015
B.Sc. Psychology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Awards and Research Funding

06/2025
Research funding (26,000 EUR) to study digital self-harm, Association for the Promotion of Scientific Research at Wilhelminenspital.
06/2024
Top paper award, Interpersonal Communication Division, International Communication Association (ICA), for the paper "Safer sexting: Who cares and how?" (in press).
05/2023
Top student-led paper award, Mobile Communication Division, ICA, for "The psychological influence of number of profiles and decision mode on dating apps" (published in Media Psychology).
05/2023
Short-term grant abroad (KWA), University of Vienna, for a research visit at Geoff MacDonald's lab (social psychology), University of Toronto.
05/2023
Grant, Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, for the visit at the University of Toronto.
07/2021
Grant, Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, for a dissertation study.
01/2021
COVID grant, German Psychological Society.

Teaching Experience

29 courses taught since 2017 — show the list
03/2026 – 07/2026
Introduction to quantitative research methods (1 semester hour), Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
03/2026 – 07/2026
Statistical data analysis with SPSS (1 semester hour), Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
10/2025 – 01/2026
Research practice (3 semester hours), Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
03/2025 – 07/2025
Introduction to quantitative research methods (1 semester hour), Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
03/2025 – 07/2025
Statistical data analysis with SPSS (1 semester hour), Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
02/2025 – 06/2025
Cyberpsychology (4 semester hours), IES Abroad (American exchange students in Vienna).
10/2024 – 01/2025
Research practice (3 semester hours), Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
09/2024 – 01/2025
Cyberpsychology (4 semester hours), IES Abroad (American exchange students in Vienna).
10/2025 – 01/2025
Experimental psychology 1 (4 semester hours), Department of Psychology, University of Sustainability.
03/2024 – 07/2024
Experimental psychology 1 (4 semester hours), Department of Psychology, University of Sustainability.
2022–2024
Empirical research in education: quantitative methods (3 courses taught, each 3 semester hours), Department of Social Pedagogy, University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
2020–2023
Introduction to quantitative research methods (6 courses taught, each 1 semester hour), Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
2020–2023
Statistical data analysis with SPSS (6 courses taught, each 1 semester hour), Department of Communication, University of Vienna.
2017–2019
Methods of research and intervention (4 courses taught, each 2 semester hours), Institute of Management Research, Radboud University.

Invited Talks

10/2027
Upcoming — invited workshop on digital self-harm, ÖAGG (largest accredited organization for psychotherapy training in Austria).
02/2025
Invited talk on choice overload, University of Stirling.
01/2024
Invited talk on sexting, Sexual Health Center Salzburg.

Reviewer Activities

Reviewed for 13 journals — show the list
  • Acta Psychologica
  • Archives of Sexual Behavior
  • Behaviour & Information Technology
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Cross-Cultural Research
  • Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace
  • Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
  • European Addiction Research
  • Information, Communication & Society
  • Media Psychology
  • Journal of Communication
  • Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology
  • Telematics and Informatics

Science Communication

09/2025
Podcast for Wissen Weekly on the "body count" phenomenon.
04/2025
Podcast for Deutschlandfunk Nova "Facts & Feelings" on the "boysober" phenomenon.
05/2024
Presentation on dating app use and well-being at the Pint of Science festival, Vienna.
03/2024
Radio interview on women's digital sexuality for Frauengesundheitszentrum Salzburg.
02/2024
Presentation on psychological effects of dating app use, Wiener Volkshochschulen.
02/2024
Psychological consultancy for Slow Dating Events Vienna.
03/2023
Interview on "slutshaming" on TikTok for Stern.
12/2022
TV interview on psychological effects of dating app use for Puls4.

Memberships

International Communication Association (ICA); German Psychological Association (DGPs).

Contact

Dr. Marina Thomas
Research Centre Transitional Psychiatry
Karl Landsteiner University
Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Straße 30
3500 Krems, Austria