Mate Preferences in Young Iranian Women: Cultural and Individual Difference Correlates

Abstract

The present study investigated the link between long-term mate preferences and cultural and individual difference variables in 536 young Iranian women (mean age = 21.6, SD = 3.78). We tested a priori hypotheses on the relationships between the dimensions of women’s mate preferences (kindness/dependability, status/resources, attractiveness/sexuality, religiosity/chastity, and education/intelligence) and other study variables (the desired number of children, self-perceived attractiveness, self-rated intelligence, intrinsic religiosity, Mahr, and socio-economic status). Descriptive data suggested that young Iranian women do not endorse traditional and religious practices in marriage and long-term relationships as strongly as previously thought. Results were mostly in line with the hypotheses. Overall, the relationships between the study variables provided support for the similarity hypothesis and the notion of modernization of Iran. Limitations and future directions are discussed.