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Desirable attributes in the ideal partner: can they vary according to gender and place of residence?

Pereira Gonçalves, Marina; Veloso Gouveia, Valdiney; Medeiros Cavalcanti, Thiago; de Castro Bezerra, Cássia; Diógenes de Medeiros, Émerson; Farias de Oliveira, Gislene; Menezes, Igor Gomes; Carlos Alchieri, João; Pereira da Silva, Joilson; Coelho de Oliveira, Letícia; Pontes de França-Freitas, Maria Luiza; Mendes Éleres de Figueiredo, Rosana; Nunes Cavalcanti, Tatiana; Silva dos Santos, Walberto

Authors

Marina Pereira Gonçalves

Valdiney Veloso Gouveia

Thiago Medeiros Cavalcanti

Cássia de Castro Bezerra

Émerson Diógenes de Medeiros

Gislene Farias de Oliveira

Profile image of Igor Menezes

Dr Igor Menezes I.G.Menezes@hull.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in OBHRM and People Analytics

João Carlos Alchieri

Joilson Pereira da Silva

Letícia Coelho de Oliveira

Maria Luiza Pontes de França-Freitas

Rosana Mendes Éleres de Figueiredo

Tatiana Nunes Cavalcanti

Walberto Silva dos Santos



Abstract

Comprehending the choice of romantic partner is important in order to minimize possible problems stemming from confl ictive loving relationships. This study aimed to identify to what extent the preference for desirable attributes in an ideal partner vary according to the respondent’s gender and place of residence. A total of 3,124 people from capital cities (n = 1,583) or towns (n = 1,541) of the nine states of the Brazilian Northeast region participated in the study, with a mean age of 23.6 years (sd = 6.72) and 63.6% female. They answered the Desirable Attributes of the Ideal Partner Scale and demographic questions. Results (Manova) indicated differences in the desirable attributes in an ideal partner according to gender: the men gave greater importance to the athletic dimension, while the women scored higher in the accomplished dimension. An effect was also observed related to the place of residence, with the men living in towns presenting a higher mean score in the traditional dimension, whereas the women residing in this locality gave more importance to the athletic dimension. In conclusion, the place of residence and, above all, the gender were important in explaining the variations in preferences for attributes in an ideal partner, in agreement with the literature.

Citation

Pereira Gonçalves, M., Veloso Gouveia, V., Medeiros Cavalcanti, T., de Castro Bezerra, C., Diógenes de Medeiros, É., Farias de Oliveira, G., Menezes, I. G., Carlos Alchieri, J., Pereira da Silva, J., Coelho de Oliveira, L., Pontes de França-Freitas, M. L., Mendes Éleres de Figueiredo, R., Nunes Cavalcanti, T., & Silva dos Santos, W. (2018). Desirable attributes in the ideal partner: can they vary according to gender and place of residence?. Trends in psychology, 26(3), 1221-1234. https://doi.org/10.9788/TP2018.3-04Pt

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 27, 2017
Publication Date 2018
Deposit Date Jun 24, 2019
Publicly Available Date Jun 25, 2019
Journal Trends in Psychology
Print ISSN 1413-389x
Electronic ISSN 2358-1883
Publisher Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 26
Issue 3
Pages 1221-1234
DOI https://doi.org/10.9788/TP2018.3-04Pt
Keywords Desirable attributes; Ideal partner; Gender, place of residence
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/2004535
Publisher URL http://pepsic.bvsalud.org/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1413-389X2018000300004&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=en
Additional Information © The Author(s), 2018. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Contract Date Jun 24, 2019

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Copyright Statement
© The Author(s), 2018. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.






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