TY - JOUR
T1 - Mating Performance and Singlehood Across 14 Nations
AU - Apostolou, Menelaos
AU - Sullman, Mark
AU - Birkás, Béla
AU - Błachnio, Agata
AU - Bushina, Ekaterina
AU - Calvo, Fran
AU - Costello, William
AU - Dujlovic, Tanja
AU - Hill, Tetiana
AU - Lajunen, Timo Juhani
AU - Lisun, Yanina
AU - Manrique-Millones, Denisse
AU - Manrique-Pino, Oscar
AU - Meskó, Norbert
AU - Nechtelberger, Martin
AU - Ohtsubo, Yohsuke
AU - Ollhoff, Christian Kenji
AU - Przepiórka, Aneta
AU - Putz, Ádám
AU - Tagliabue, Mariaelena
AU - Tekeş, Burcu
AU - Thomas, Andrew
AU - Valentova, Jaroslava Varella
AU - Varella, Marco Antonio Correa
AU - Wang, Yan
AU - Wright, Paula
AU - Font-Mayolas, Sílvia
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - Adult individuals frequently face difficulties in attracting and keeping mates, which is an important driver of singlehood. In the current research, we investigated the mating performance (i.e., how well people do in attracting and retaining intimate partners) and singlehood status in 14 different countries, namely Austria, Brazil, China, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Peru, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and Ukraine (N = 7,181). We found that poor mating performance was in high occurrence, with about one in four participants scoring low in this dimension, and more than 57% facing difficulties in starting and/or keeping a relationship. Men and women did not differ in their mating performance scores, but there was a small yet significant effect of age, with older participants indicating higher mating performance. Moreover, nearly 13% of the participants indicated that they were involuntarily single, which accounted for about one-third of the singles in the sample. In addition, more than 15% of the participants indicated that they were voluntarily single, and 10% were between-relationships single. We also found that poor mating performance was associated with an increased likelihood of voluntary, involuntary, and between-relationships singlehood. All types of singlehood were in higher occurrence in younger participants. Although there was some cross-cultural variation, the results were generally consistent across samples.
AB - Adult individuals frequently face difficulties in attracting and keeping mates, which is an important driver of singlehood. In the current research, we investigated the mating performance (i.e., how well people do in attracting and retaining intimate partners) and singlehood status in 14 different countries, namely Austria, Brazil, China, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Peru, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and Ukraine (N = 7,181). We found that poor mating performance was in high occurrence, with about one in four participants scoring low in this dimension, and more than 57% facing difficulties in starting and/or keeping a relationship. Men and women did not differ in their mating performance scores, but there was a small yet significant effect of age, with older participants indicating higher mating performance. Moreover, nearly 13% of the participants indicated that they were involuntarily single, which accounted for about one-third of the singles in the sample. In addition, more than 15% of the participants indicated that they were voluntarily single, and 10% were between-relationships single. We also found that poor mating performance was associated with an increased likelihood of voluntary, involuntary, and between-relationships singlehood. All types of singlehood were in higher occurrence in younger participants. Although there was some cross-cultural variation, the results were generally consistent across samples.
KW - involuntary singlehood
KW - mating
KW - mating performance
KW - relationship
KW - romantic relationships
KW - singlehood
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85145431122&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/14747049221150169
DO - 10.1177/14747049221150169
M3 - Article
C2 - 36596274
AN - SCOPUS:85145431122
SN - 1474-7049
VL - 21
JO - Evolutionary Psychology
JF - Evolutionary Psychology
IS - 1
ER -