The limited influence of self-monitoring on romantic partner preferences

This research sought to clarify the influence of self-monitoring on romanti c partner preferences. Participants rated the importance of several persona l qualities for a short-term and a long-term partner on lists that were pre sented in a Counterbalanced order. Then participants completed the self-mon itoring scale. Eight dimensions of romantic partner preferences were identi fied: Fidelity, Dependability, Vitality, Spiritual Values, Creativity, Attr activeness, Good Parenting, and Status-Wealth. Consistent with parental inv estment theory, some sex-differences in qualities preferred in a romantic r elationship partner were found. When the effect of one's sex was not contro lled statistically, self-monitoring correlated positively with the importan ce of attractiveness-related characteristics in a romantic partner. After c ontrolling for the effects of sex, no self-monitoring influences on the eig ht dimensions of romantic partner preferences were found. Implications for the continued use of self-monitoring in social-personality research are dis cussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.