Women want taller men more than men want shorter women

G. Stulp, A.P. Buunk, T.V. Pollet

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Physical characteristics, such as height, play an important role in human mate preferences. Satisfaction with one's own height and one's partner height seem likely to be related to these preferences. Using a student sample (N= 650), we show that women are not only more selective, but also more consistent, than men, in their partner height preferences. Women prefer, on average, a larger height difference between themselves and their partner (i.e. males being much taller than themselves) than men do. This effect is even more pronounced when examining satisfaction with actual partner height: women are most satisfied when their partner was 21. cm taller, whereas men are most satisfied when they were 8. cm taller than their partner. Next, using data from our sample and that of a previously published study (N= 52,677), we show that for men, height is more important to the expression of satisfaction with one's own height than it is for women. Furthermore, slightly above average height women and tall men are most satisfied with their heights. We conclude that satisfaction with one's own height is at least partly a consequence of the height preference of the opposite sex and satisfaction with one's partner height. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)877-883
    JournalPersonality and Individual Differences
    Volume54
    Issue number8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013

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