Browsing by Author "Petersen, Emma"

Objectives Mating strategies are a powerful evolutionary force which have affected the formation of different species. Despite their importance the mating strategies of humans are not fully understood. Sexual Strategies Theory (SST) has obtained a major foothold in scientific literature concerning human mating. According to the theory each sex has been forced to solve different problems in the mating context depending on the length of the relationship and thus their strategies differ from each other. Attachment Fertility Theory (AFT) is a competing theory to SST. According to it the strategies of the sexes do not differ as much. The purpose of this study was to determine whether mating can be scrutinized using factor analysis, do mate preferences differ between the sexes and between short- and long-term mating and how one’s own characteristics influence mate preferences. Methods The data (n=632) comprised mostly of women (73.4%) and university students (71.8%). The participants completed an online survey where they ranked different traits based on how important they found them in the context of either short- or long-term mating. In addition, they answered a few questions regarding their own characteristics. Results In the study we found eight factors: Kind, Ambitious, Outgoing, Intelligent, Good mannered, Trustworthy, Good looking and Relationship. All of these traits were more important to women than to men except for Good looking. Good looking was more important in short-term mating, while other traits (such as Trustworthy) were more significant in the long-term setting. Men did not value intelligence as much in short-term mating. The participants valued similar traits to themselves. Conclusions SST is not the only theory explaining human mate preferences. In this study the proposed interactions between the sexes, the length of the relationship and the preferred traits were not found. These results are more in line with AFT. The scientific literature concerning mate preferences is methodologically scattered. Choosing a partner is one of the most central elements of human life and understanding it would widen our knowledge of basic human nature.