Stepping out of the caveman's shadow: nations' gender gap predicts degree of sex differentiation in mate preferences.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional survey and ecological re-analysis graded by design analogy, not clinical CEBM.
PubMed 22933455 · doi:10.1177/0956797612441004
What was done
The authors examined whether national gender equality relates to sex differentiation in mate preferences across two datasets. Study 1 collected online ratings of mate attributes from 3,177 participants across 10 nations selected along the Global Gender Gap Index (GGI). Study 2 re-analyzed previously published mate preference data from 8,953 participants across 31 nations (Buss, 1989) and matched those findings against national GGI scores.
What was found
The abstract does not report specific correlation coefficients, effect sizes, or test statistics. It reports that across both datasets, sex differences in mate preferences traditionally attributed to evolutionary constraints declined proportionally with higher national gender parity.
Why it matters
This work indicates that sex differences in human mating preferences vary with social and structural context rather than remaining static evolutionary traits.
Limits
The abstract provides no numerical data, effect sizes, or confidence intervals. The design is cross-sectional and ecological, which cannot establish causality. Study 1 was conducted online across only 10 nations, and Study 2 matched historical mate-preference survey data from 1989 with newer gender gap metrics.
Cited by
- supports Across seven major cross-cultural studies, five found an association between gender inequality and mate preferences for resources, all found age gap preferences decrease with lower gender inequality, and beauty preferences showed no change.