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- Title
Young adults' partner preferences and parents' in‐law preferences across generations, genders, and nations.
- Authors
Locke, Kenneth D.; Mastor, Khairul A.; MacDonald, Geoff; Barni, Daniela; Morio, Hiroaki; Reyes, Jose Alberto S.; Vargas‐Flores, José de Jesús; Ibáñez‐Reyes, Joselina; Kamble, Shanmukh; Ortiz, Fernando A.
- Abstract
To examine cultural, gender, and parent–child differences in partner preferences, in eight countries undergraduates (n = 2,071) and their parents (n = 1,851) ranked the desirability of qualities in someone the student might marry. Despite sizable cultural differences—especially between Southeast Asian and Western countries—participants generally ranked kind/understanding (reflecting interpersonal communion) highest, and intelligent and healthy (reflecting mental/physical agency) among the top four. Students valued exciting, attractive partners more and healthy, religious partners less than parents did; comparisons with rankings by youth in 1984 (i.e., from the parents' generation) suggested cohort effects cannot explain most parent–child disagreements. As evolutionary psychology predicts, participants prioritized wives' attractiveness and homemaker skills and husbands' education and breadwinner skills; but as sociocultural theory predicts, variations across countries/decades in gendered spousal/in‐law preferences mirrored socioeconomic gender differences. Collectively, the results suggest individuals consider their social roles/circumstances when envisioning their ideal spouse/in‐law, which has implications for how humans' partner‐appraisal capabilities evolved.
- Subjects
SOUTHERN States; MARRIAGE &; psychology; PERSONAL beauty; BODY image; CULTURE; INTELLECT; INTERGENERATIONAL relations; INTERPERSONAL relations; SEX distribution; SPOUSES; COMMUNITY support; LABELING theory; SOCIOECONOMIC factors; EDUCATIONAL attainment; PARENT attitudes; PSYCHOLOGY of Undergraduates
- Publication
European Journal of Social Psychology, 2020, Vol 50, Issue 5, p903
- ISSN
0046-2772
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/ejsp.2662