Are Sex Differences in Mating Preferences Really “Overrated”? The Effects of Sex and Relationship Orientation on Long-Term and Short-Term Mate Preferences

Gender, “masculinity,” and “femininity”: A meta-analytic review of gender differences in agency and communion.

“…For instance, men come to value reproductive and nurturant ability in a mate to better ensure care for their offspring, whereas women come to value social dominance and status, to better ensure their offspring have financial and genetic advantages to survive for further reproduction (Buss, 1989; Buss & Barnes, 1986; Ickes, 1993; Kenrick et al, 1990; Kenrick & Keefe, 1992; Orlofsky, 1982). More recent evidence has suggested men place higher value on women’s caregiving skills (e.g., as a cook and housekeeper), whereas women place higher value on men’s financial prospects, dominance, ambition, industriousness, and social status (Boxer et al, 2015; Henry et al, 2013; Schwarz et al, 2020). In other words, in heterosexual mate selection, individuals sought partners with characteristics consistent with stereotypic gender roles (i.e., agentic traits for men and communal traits for women).…”

The Association Between Relationship Orientation, Relationship Quality and Sexual Satisfaction

“…Previous research showed that high short-term orientation was associated with an unrestricted sociosexuality, a playful love style (Ludus 1 ) and a hedonistic present perspective (Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2007). On the contrary, long-term relationship orientation appears to be related to family orientation, which includes items such as friendly, understanding, creative, domestic, reliable, and was endorsed by individuals who described themselves as long-term oriented (Schwarz et al, 2020). Furthermore, long-term oriented individuals place more value on similarity and a socially responsive personality (Regan et al, 2000), and prefer later rewards to immediate ones (Schwarz, 2008).…”

“…Furthermore, long-term oriented individuals place more value on similarity and a socially responsive personality (Regan et al, 2000), and prefer later rewards to immediate ones (Schwarz, 2008). Gender differences are well documented in research and seem to be stable across decades and cultures (Schwarz et al, 2020). Accordingly, women are more likely to be long-term oriented while men reported that they are more short-term oriented (Figueredo et al, 2005;Figueredo & Peñaherrera-Aguirre, 2021;Hallam et al, 2018;Schwarz et al, 2020;Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2007).…”

“…Jonason and colleagues (Jonason et al, 2009;Jonason & Buss, 2012) also emphasize unrestricted sociosexual orientation as an indicator for short-term mating strategies. However, over the years three main criticisms emerged regarding the measurement of sociosexuality: behavioral and attitudinal factors are confounded, underlying one-dimensional structure, and conceptual overlap between biological sex and sociosexuality (for an overview, see Schwarz et al, 2011;Schwarz et al, 2020). Therefore, some researchers have proposed a more multidimensional approach to sociosexuality (Banai & Pavela, 2015;Figueredo & Peñaherrera-Aguirre, 2021;Jackson & Kirkpatrick, 2007), assuming that short-term and long-term mating strategies operate relatively autonomously, although, not completely independent of each other (Figueredo & Peñaherrera-Aguirre, 2021).…”

“…Buzzwords most closely associated with Tinder are sex or hookup apps (Hallam et al, 2018;Sumter et al, 2017). Overall, online dating apps like Tinder claim to promote more short-term relationships (Schwarz et al, 2020). Nevertheless, there still seems to be a desire to start stable and committed relationships.…”