Does financial stability matter in dating?
Financial stability and resource-acquisition capacity reliably raise male long-term mate value, and the sex difference is one of the most robust findings in mate-preference research. Buss's classic 1989 37-culture study found women rated "good financial prospects" more important than men did in 36 of 37 samples (per the original Buss 1989 paper, not the Walter et al. 2020 replication). A 2020 study across 45 countries (N=14,399; Walter et al., Psychological Science) confirmed women hold a stronger preference for good financial prospects than men (b = -0.30, SE = 0.03, p < .001). That paper also reports a relatively large overall multivariate sex difference across mate-preference variables (mean Mahalanobis D = 0.73, ranging from 0.30 in Nigeria to 1.42 in Georgia) — not a "financial-prospects-plus-attractiveness dimension of D ≈ 0.62, which the source does not support. Behavioral data echo the preference: in a Chinese online-dating field experiment (Ong & Wang 2015), male profiles with the highest randomized income drew about 10x more visits from women than the lowest, while men were largely indifferent to women's income. The effect is real and sizable but is partly moderated by the woman's own income (women still preferred partners earning more than themselves).
Evidence & sources
- Walter et al. 2020, Psychological Science — Sex Differences in Mate Preferences Across 45 Countries (N=14,399)
Confirmed verbatim: N=14,399 across 45 countries; women had a stronger preference for an ideal mate with good financial prospects than men, b = -0.30, SE = 0.03, p < .001. NOTE: the overall sex-difference is mean Mahalanobis D = 0.73 (range 0.30 Nigeria to 1.42 Georgia); there is no D=0.62 for a financial+attractiveness dimension (0.62 is only Nigeria's upper CI bound), and the '36 of 37 cultures' Buss figure does no
- Ong & Wang 2015, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization — Income attraction: an online dating field experiment
Confirmed: 360 artificial profiles on a major Chinese dating site with randomized income; male profiles with the highest income received ~10x more visits than the lowest; men visited female profiles at roughly equal rates regardless of her income; women's preference for higher-income males increased with their own income.