Open AccessSex differences in human mate preferences vary across sex ratios
Author(s) -
Kathryn V. Walter,
Daniel ConroyBeam,
David M. Buss,
Kelly Asao,
Agnieszka Sorokowska,
Piotr Sorokowski,
Toivo Aavik,
Grace Akello,
Mohammad Madallh Alhabahba,
Charlotte Alm,
Naumana Amjad,
Afifa Anjum,
Chiemezie S. Atama,
Derya Atamtürk Duyar,
Richard Ayebare,
Carlota Batres,
Mons Bendixen,
Aicha Bensafia,
Boris Bizumić,
Mahmoud Boussena,
Marina L. Butovskaya,
Seda Can,
Katarzyna Cantarero,
Antonin Carrier,
Hakan Çetinkaya,
Ilona Croy,
Rosa María Cueto,
Marcin Czub,
Daria Dronova,
Seda Dural,
İzzet Duyar,
Berna Ertuğrul,
Agustín Espinosa,
Ignacio Estevan,
Carla Sofia Esteves,
Luxi Fang,
Tomasz Frąckowiak,
Jorge Contreras Garduño,
Karina Ugalde González,
Farida Guemaz,
Petra Gyuris,
Mária Haľamová,
Iskra Herak,
Marina Horvat,
Ivana Hromatko,
Chun Hui,
Jas Laile Suzana Binti Jaafar,
Feng Jiang,
Konstantinos Kafetsios,
Tina Kavčič,
Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair,
Nicolas Kervyn,
Trương Thi Khanh Ha,
Imran Ahmed Khilji,
Nils Köbis,
Hoang Moc Lan,
András Láng,
Georgina R. Lennard,
Ernesto de León,
Torun Lindholm,
Trinh Thi Linh,
Giulia Lopez,
Nguyen Van Luot,
Álvaro Mailhos,
Zoi Manesi,
Rocío Martínez,
Sarah L. McKerchar,
Norbert Meskó,
Girishwar Misra,
Conal Monaghan,
Emanuel C. Mora,
Alba Moya-Garófano,
Bojan Musil,
Jean Carlos Natividade,
Agnieszka Niemczyk,
George Nizharadze,
Elisabeth Oberzaucher,
Anna Oleszkiewicz,
Mohd Sofian Omar-Fauzee,
Ike E. Onyishi,
Barış Özener,
Ariela Francesca Pagani,
Vilmantė Pakalniškienė,
Miriam Parise,
Farid Pazhoohi,
Annette Pisanski,
Katarzyna Pisanski,
Edna Lúcia Tinoco Ponciano,
Camelia Popa,
Pavol Prokop,
Muhammad Rizwan,
Mario Sainz,
Svjetlana Salkičević,
Rūta Sargautytė,
Ivan Sarmány-Schuller,
Susanne Schmehl,
Shivantika Sharad,
Razi Sultan Siddiqui,
Franco Simonetti,
Stanislava Stoyanova,
Meri Tadinac,
Marco Antônio Corrêa Varella,
ChristinMelanie Vauclair,
Luis Diego Vega,
Dwi Ajeng Widarini,
Yoo Gyesook,
Marta Zaťková,
Maja Zupančič
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings - royal society. biological sciences/proceedings - royal society. biological sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.342
H-Index - 253
eISSN - 1471-2954
pISSN - 0962-8452
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.2021.1115
Subject(s) - attractiveness , mating , sex ratio , mate choice , sexual selection , operational sex ratio , preference , social psychology , sexual attraction , psychology , kindness , demography , mating preferences , biology , ecology , sexual behavior , mating system , population , economics , philosophy , theology , sociology , psychoanalysis , microeconomics
A wide range of literature connects sex ratio and mating behaviours in non-human animals. However, research examining sex ratio and human mating is limited in scope. Prior work has examined the relationship between sex ratio and desire for short-term, uncommitted mating as well as outcomes such as marriage and divorce rates. Less empirical attention has been directed towards the relationship between sex ratio and mate preferences, despite the importance of mate preferences in the human mating literature. To address this gap, we examined sex ratio's relationship to the variation in preferences for attractiveness, resources, kindness, intelligence and health in a long-term mate across 45 countries ( n = 14 487). We predicted that mate preferences would vary according to relative power of choice on the mating market, with increased power derived from having relatively few competitors and numerous potential mates. We found that each sex tended to report more demanding preferences for attractiveness and resources where the opposite sex was abundant, compared to where the opposite sex was scarce. This pattern dovetails with those found for mating strategies in humans and mate preferences across species, highlighting the importance of sex ratio for understanding variation in human mate preferences.