Lippa, R. A. (2007). The preferred traits of mates in a cross-national study of heterosexual and homosexual men and women: An examination of biological and cultural influences. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(2), 193-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-006-9151-2

The author analyzed the data from a large-scale web-based survey that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) commissioned to investigate sex differences across 119,733 men and 98,462 women. Participants selected the first, second, and third most significant traits in a romantic partner from a list of 23 traits. Intelligence, humor, honesty, friendliness, general good looks, facial attractiveness, values, communication skills, and reliability were the traits deemed most important by all participants.

Men valued good looks and facial attractiveness more than women (d = 0.55 and 0.36, respectively), whereas women valued honesty, humor, friendliness, and reliability more than men (ds = 0.23, 0.22, 0.18, and 0.15, respectively).

Sexual orientation variations in trait rankings were less than sex differences in trait rankings, but some were significant; for example, heterosexual participants ranked religion, liking for children, and parenting ability higher than gay participants.

According to multidimensional scaling studies, trait preference profiles are clustered by participant sex, not sexual orientation, and by sex more than by nationality. Sex-by-nation Individual trait rankings revealed that sex differences in attractiveness rankings, but not in character traits, were extremely consistent across 53 countries, and that nation main effects and sex-by-nation interactions were stronger for character traits than for physical attractiveness, according to ANOVAs.

Men’s and women’s assessments of character characteristics, but not physical appearance, were associated across nations by United Nations indices of gender equality. These findings imply that cultural variables had a stronger impact on men’s and women’s character attribute rankings, whereas biological factors had a greater impact on men’s and women’s physical attractiveness rankings.