Modern-day female preferences for resources and provisioning by long-term mates.

Abstract

Several studies have documented women’s evolved psychological preference for mates who provide resources and provisioning, but few have examined specific preferences for what defines “resources” in the modern day. In this study, we examined specific types of modern-day resources women prefer given their age and self-perceived mate value. Specifically, we considered women’s preferences for the following: (a) certain types of gifts from long-term mates, (b) mate possessions of certain traits/materials related to resource acquisition, and (c) acts of service and/or provisioning by long-term mates. We found that younger women and those with higher self-rated mate value placed more importance on long-term mates who provide emotional support, romantic gifts, and show signs of wealth potential, whereas older women placed greater importance on receiving domestic help and gifts that are of financial assistance. Unmarried women, those not in committed relationships, and women without children were more likely to desire mates who gave them romantic gifts, showed wealth potential, and provided emotional support than did married women, women in relationships, and women with children. These findings are interpreted using an evolutionary framework and further elucidate what constitutes women’s preferences for resources and provisioning from long-term mates as defined in modern times.

Physical cues of partner quality

“…The findings reviewed above indicate that this may not necessarily be an important consideration for most contemporary males, suggesting that men have not overridden their evolved mate preferences (Buss & Schmitt, 2019) even if rationally it might in some contexts be beneficial for them to do so. What is more, that many women still emphasise the importance of resource-provisioning ability in males (Buss & Schmitt, 2019;Hughes & Aung, 2017), either consciously or subconsciously, suggests that sex differences in partner preferences, which are reminiscent of traditional Darwinian gender roles (Archer, 2019;Janicke et al, 2016), still persist despite environmental and cultural novelties, such as some branches of modern feminism and gender equity movement. This highlights the oft-repeated insight from evolutionary psychology: when there has been a rapid change in environmental conditions, individuals may still be adapted to the past and therefore maladapted to the present, engaging in goal-directed behaviours that end up decreasing their fitness (Crespi, 2020;Goetz, Pillsworth, Buss, & Conroy-Beam, 2019;Li, van Vugt, & Colarelli, 2018).…”

“Age as a determinant of new donor acquisition and year‐on‐year retention in the university healthcare fundraising context”

“…Specifically, it has long been argued that people, absent of additional objective details, are likely to assume that an older individual has more financial resources than a comparable younger individual does (Brady et al, 2018; Shorrocks, 1975). There is much evidence that this type of mental short‐cut in using an individual's age as an indicator of financial income and wealth is often used in evaluating short‐term and long‐term romantic relationship prospects (Griskevicius et al, 2007; Hughes & Aung, 2017; Kenrick & Keefe, 1992; Sundie et al, 2011). Perhaps a simple mental short‐cut is taken by nonprofit organizations about an individual's proclivity to give money and other more predictive indicators of giving likelihood should receive more judgmental weight.…”

Operational Sex Ratio Predicts Binge Drinking Across U.S. Counties

“…However, there was a significant negative correlation between female binge drinking rates and OSR in women of ages 50+ (Figure 2). It is expected that older married women and women with long-term partners are more likely to invest in both parenting of existing progeny and long-term relationships (Hughes & Aung, 2017), rather than short-term mating opportunities. However, older unmarried women might be more likely to engage in greater mating effort, including risk-taking behaviors such as binge drinking, in order to attain a mate in female-biased environments.…”