14 DAY TRIAL // It's a jungle out there, this much is true to anyone who's had their fair share of dating. Well, leave it to researchers at Chapman University to put things in order, or at least try to.
In a new paper published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, the specialists reveal what women look for in a long-term partner and what men keep an eye for when pursuing a lady.
The study is based on data collected while surveying around 28,000 heterosexual men and women between the ages of 18 to 75, the Chapman University team explain.
Here's a run-through
When trying to determine what people look for in a long-term partner, the research team took into consideration variables such as gender, age, personal income, education and confidence in one's appearance.
The scientists found that, of all these variables that they included in their study, gender influences an individual's romantic preferences much more than all the others.
Plainly put, the team found that, as they suspected when they first began their investigation, men care about looks. Women, on the other hand, care about resources.
“We’ve known for a long time that men care more about attractiveness in a long term partner, and women care more about resources,” says specialist David Frederik.
“We found that gender was by far the strongest predictor of what people want in a long-term mate: it was more important than age, income, education, or confidence in appearance,” the researcher goes on to detail.
In not so many words, it appears that, regardless of age, personal income, education and confidence in their own appearance, men want women who are attractive to them.
The ladies, on the other hand, are more focused on a man's resources rather than his looks when it comes to a long-term relationship.
Then come the subtleties
Having pinned down the general principles governing the behavior of men and women when looking for a long-term partner, the researchers tried their hand at uncovering the subtleties of romantic love.
Without further ado, here's what they learned: 92% of men think it is desirable / essential that their partner be good-looking. In the case of women, the figure stands at just 84%.
Then, 80% of men want a partner with a slender body. 58% of women share this expectation. As for having a partner with a steady income, this is important to 74% of men and 97% of women.
Merely 47% of men want somebody who makes or stands to make a lot of money, whereas 69% of women voiced a preference for a partner doing especially well financially-wise.
The study also revealed that, the older the study participants were, the less they cared about a potential partner's looks or income. True, they wouldn't have said no to a good-looking partner with money to spare, but they didn't think of such details as deal-breakers.
“Wealthier men and people who were more confident in their appearance had stronger preferences for a good-looking partner, and older men and women placed less importance on looks and income traits when seeking a long-term partner,” David Frederick summed up the study's findings.