ترجیحات همسر در ایالات متحده و سنگاپور: آزمون میان فرهنگی مدل اولویت درجه یک همسر

Sex differences have been found in mate preferences across several decades. Especially for long-term partners, men tend to value physical attractiveness and women tend to value social status. However, the sexes both value various other traits even more highly. Such findings thus diminish the importance of the sex differences and challenge the theoretical importance that evolutionary psychologists place on physical attractiveness and social status. Using a budget allocation methodology to examine mate preferences in both the US and Singapore, we found not only the usual sex differences, but also evidence that men prioritize physical attractiveness and women prioritize social status as necessities in their long-term mates. We also found that both sexes tend to value physical attractiveness as a necessity in short-term mates. Results replicate previous budget allocation findings and provide cross-cultural validation for a mate preference priorities model.

Do men and women meaningfully differ in their criteria for potential mates? To answer this question, it is important to consider at least two key factors that may underlie male and female reproductive value in both long-term and short-term mating contexts (Buss & Schmitt, 1993). First, individuals’ fertility tends to decrease with age. In particular, whereas men’s fertility decreases at a relatively slow rate over the entire lifespan, women’s fertility tends to decline quickly after 30 and reaches zero at menopause. Thus, because female fertility is especially tied to age and only fertile individuals can produce offspring, men may have evolved to seek cues to youth (and sexual maturity) in both long- and short-term matings (Symons, 1979). Specifically, men may have evolved to find such cues, including soft skin and hair and a low waist-to-hip ratio (e.g., Singh, 1993), to be especially physically attractive in long- and short-term mates.