Department of Anthropology, Université de Montréal, succursale Centre-ville, C.P. 6128, H3C 3J7, Montréal, Canada.
Hum Nat. 1994 Sep;5(3):255-78. doi: 10.1007/BF02692154.
Most research on mate choice in modern societies is based on data that may or may not reflect actual mating behavior (e.g., stated preferences, personal advertisements). In the present study, real-life matings were reported by a large representative sample of men and women (N = 1,133). These data were used to test an evolutionary model in which mate choice is hypothesized to depend on resources potentially contributed to reproduction by each sex. Consistent with the model, it was found that (a) men (but not women) of higher social status acquire more mating partners, suggesting that male status is an important criterion in female choice; (b) women's (but not men's) number of partners decreases linearly with age, suggesting that female reproductive potential is an important criterion in male choice; and (c) women (but not men) display a significant relationship between marital dissolution and promiscuity, suggesting that female sexual exclusivity is an important criterion in male choice. These results are discussed in relation to understanding mate choice mechanisms from behavioral data.
大多数关于现代社会配偶选择的研究都是基于可能反映或不反映实际交配行为的数据（例如，表述偏好、个人广告）。在本研究中，通过大量有代表性的男性和女性样本（N=1133）报告了现实生活中的交配情况。这些数据用于测试一个进化模型，其中假设配偶选择取决于每个性别可能为繁殖做出贡献的资源。与该模型一致，发现（a）社会地位较高的男性（而不是女性）获得更多的交配伴侣，这表明男性地位是女性选择的重要标准；（b）女性（而不是男性）的伴侣数量随年龄呈线性下降，这表明女性的生殖能力是男性选择的重要标准；（c）女性（而不是男性）在婚姻解体和滥交之间表现出显著的关系，这表明女性的性专一性是男性选择的重要标准。这些结果与从行为数据理解配偶选择机制有关。
