GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MATE SELECTION CRITERIA AMONG MALAYSIAN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether gender differences existed in the mate selection criteria of undergraduate students in a public university. The participants recruited in this study were 132 undergraduate students between the ages of 20 to 28 years and they were selected by purposive and random sampling. The test instrument used was a mate selection inventory made up of Sternberg’s love components, McCrae’s personality traits, David Buss’s physical traits and mate selection traits from the work of Sprecher. The Cronbach’s alpha value for this 62-item inventory was .79. The results showed significant gender differences in mate selection criteria. Males were found to prefer passion, agreeableness, symmetrical bone structure, slim waist size, good looks and youthfulness, and were more liberal about accepting people who were less educated, divorced, less successful and unemployed. Females were found to prefer a mate with a successful career, employed, educated and disliked the notion of marrying a divorcee, unemployed person, less successful and less educated than themselves.