Considerable research has examined human mate preferences across cultures, finding universal sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and resources as well as sources of systematic cultural variation. Two competing perspectives—an evolutionary psychological perspective and a biosocial role perspective—offer alternative explanations for these findings. However, the original data on which each perspective relies are decades old, and the literature is fraught with conflicting methods, analyses, results, and conclusions. Using a new 45-country sample ( N = 14,399), we attempted to replicate classic studies and test both the evolutionary and biosocial role perspectives. Support for universal sex differences in preferences remains robust: Men, more than women, prefer attractive, young mates, and women, more than men, prefer older mates with financial prospects. Cross-culturally, both sexes have mates closer to their own ages as gender equality increases. Beyond age of partner, neither pathogen prevalence nor gender equality robustly predicted sex differences or preferences across countries.

The metric level of invariance offers the possibility of comparing correlates and predictors of positive mental functioning across countries; however, the comparison of the levels of mental health across countries is not possible due to lack of scalar invariance. Our study has preliminary character and could serve as an initial assessment of the structure of the MHC-SF across different cultural settings. Further studies on general populations are required for extending our findings.

Humans express a wide array of ideal mate preferences. Around the world, people desire romantic partners who are intelligent, healthy, kind, physically attractive, wealthy, and more. In order for these ideal preferences to guide the choice of actual romantic partners, human mating psychology must possess a means to integrate information across these many preference dimensions into summaries of the overall mate value of their potential mates. Here we explore the computational design of this mate preference integration process using a large sample of n = 14,487 people from 45 countries around the world. We combine this large cross-cultural sample with agent-based models to compare eight hypothesized models of human mating markets. Across cultures, people higher in mate value appear to experience greater power of choice on the mating market in that they set higher ideal standards, better fulfill their preferences in choice, and pair with higher mate value partners. Furthermore, we find that this cross-culturally universal pattern of mate choice is most consistent with a Euclidean model of mate preference integration.

Love is an inherent part of human experience and one of the most important elements of close relationships. Researchers' interest in love is manifested in a handful of approaches that provide a potential theoretical framework for this unique feeling (e.g., philosophical, Secomb, 2007; economic, Becker, 1973; and biological perspectives; e.g., Sorokowski et al., 2017).The social sciences present several well-known theories of love. (A comprehensive review of theories can be found in Sternberg & Sternberg, 2019). Among the most popular theoretical approaches, one theory highlights a division into passionate (intense and arousing) and companionate (tender and affective) love (Feybesse & Hatfield, 2019;Hatfield & Walster, 1985), which suggests the parallel importance of love's different aspects. Another popular typology refers to love styles, as first described by Lee (1973) and as further adapted by Hendrick (1986, 2019). This theoretical framework specifies six styles of love: Eros (passionate love), Ludus (game-playing love), Storge (friendship love), Pragma (logical, pragmatic love), Mania (possessive, dependent love) and Agape (all-giving, selfless love). Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 2012), describing infant-parent bonding, has also given rise to a theoretical framework for understanding romantic love (Hazan & Shaver, 1987;

The aim of this paper is to examine cross-cultural differences in body stigmatization between the individualistic Christian culture of guilt (Poland) and the collectivistic Buddhist/Confucian culture of honor and shame (Vietnam). The study included 1290 university students from Poland (n = 586) and Vietnam (n = 704). Subjects filled in the body esteem scale and the perceived stigmatization questionnaire, and body measurements were collected to calculate anthropometric indices. Participants from Vietnam were less satisfied with their appearance than their Polish peers. Men in both countries assessed themselves more favorably. No anthropometric index predicted body esteem in Vietnamese women, while only indices related to fat levels were predictors in Polish women. Men with a V-shaped body assessed themselves as stronger and as having a better physical condition. A possible explanation of the observed cross-cultural differences is that interdependent self-construal makes young adults in collectivistic societies more susceptible to criticism, and the Confucian values of modesty and shame lead to them not perceiving their bodies as sexual objects. The Christian sense of guilt does not influence the perception of sexuality. Absence of friendly behavior mediated the relation between anthropometric indices and body esteem in both cultures.