GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MATE PREFERENCE AMONG LAW STUDENTS - DIVERGENCEAND CONVERGENCE OF CRITERIA

We examined six hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory regarding sex differences in mate-selection criteria. The subjects were 160 law students who viewed color photographs of live models that were paired with different status cues such as costume variation and descriptions of income and occupation. A multivariate analysis of variance and regr ession analyses revealed highly significant sex differences in the fol lowing responses: reported willingness to engage in unqualified sexual relations; reported willingness to have sexual relations with stimulu s persons as compared with the willingness to engage in higher investm ent relationships such as dating and marriage; the effects of stimulus persons' status and physical attractiveness in determining thresholds of initial acceptability; and tradeoffs, that is the ability of high physical attractiveness to compensate for low status, and of high stat us to compensate for low physical attractiveness. Law students also re sponded to nine statements concerning prospective spouses' relative in come, occupational prestige, and physical attractiveness. These respon ses exhibited sex differences consistent with those found in the exper imental manipulation.