“Am I Good Enough for You?” Features Related to Self-Perception and Self-Esteem of Brazilians from Different Socioeconomic Status

Abstract

Several studies have been conducted to expand our knowledge about human romantic relationships, mostly seeking to highlight the factors of greatest influence. However, much of these works were based on samples of university students, which affords certain limitations to drawing any conclusions about the general population, especially in countries where the rate of social inequality is high. The current study aims to address this limitation and determine whether there actually is a significant difference between self-esteem and self-perception as a potential romantic partner among samples of people from two different socioeconomic status (SES), based on data derived from 150 participants (64 of higher SES and 86 of lower SES) in northeastern Brazil. Our results confirm the existence of differences in self-esteem and self-perception as a romantic partner among people from different SES, underscoring the need for further exploration of non-university groups in the study of factors that influence romantic relationships.

Investment in Beauty, Exercise, and Self-esteem: Are They Related to Self-perception as a Romantic Partner?

“…This research found that although self-rated physical attractiveness was related to self-esteem in women of high socioeconomic status, in women of low socioeconomic status, self-esteem was related to both physical attractiveness and including traits related to their social status. Usually, characteristics related to financial status are typically associated with self-esteem in men (Goodwin et al 2012;Mafra and Lopes 2014), but this work showed that, in fact, different characteristics influence selfesteem in women of low socioeconomic status compared to women of high socioeconomic status, lending additional support to the importance of further research comparing population of lower and higher socioeconomic status.…”

“…In environments where physical appearance plays an important role, women's perception of physical attractiveness is related to self-esteem (Mafra and Lopes 2014;Penke and Denissen 2008). Avelar and Veiga (2013) noted that excessive concern about physical appearance is positively associated with the necessity for physical and material resources and that when media emphasizes the distance between the physical appearance of ordinary women and some ideal standards of female beauty, it can have the affect of lowering self-esteem in most women, increase concern about their appearance, and lead to behaviors or activities that might help to boost selfesteem.…”

“…Each sex tends to assign greater importance to self-perception as romantic partner (how an individual perceives him/herself as a romantic partner) according to what they perceive the opposite sex values in a potential mate (Fisher et al 2008;Goodwin et al 2012). In this sense, women give more importance to characteristics that are related to physical attractiveness when evaluating themselves as romantic partners, whereas men give greater importance to characteristics related to their financial status (Mafra and Lopes 2014).…”

“…Based on this theory, other researchers investigated the relationship between self-perception and self-esteem. Goodwin et al (2012), Mafra and Lopes (2014), and Penke and Denissen (2008) found a positive relationship between self-perception and self-esteem and, thus, also a perceived mate value, which can be translated into actual behavior, and social and mating interactions. Penke and Denissen (2008) went further and found a greater correlation between men's self-esteem and self-perception as romantic partners due to the greater desire for short-term relationships and, thus, higher sensitivity to potential partners' rejections.…”

Self-Perceived Mate Value Is Poorly Predicted by Demographic Variables

“…Unfortunately, only a very limited amount of research exists on the demographics of mate value. The few studies that were published by and large support these evolutionary predictions (with respect to SES: Mafra & Lopes, 2014;sex and culture: Goodwin et al, 2012;sex, age, and marital status: Brase & Guy, 2004). On the other hand, although these studies both theoretically and empirically support the assumption of a relation between demographic variables and mate value, the robustness of their findings should be considered with caution due to small and special samples.…”