Citation

Schmitt DP, Alcalay L, Allik J, Ault L, Austers I, Bennett KL, Bianchi G, Boholst F, Cunen MA, Braeckman J, Brainerd EG, Caral LG, Caron G, Casullo MM, Cunningham M, Daibo I, De Backer C, De Souza E, Diaz-Loving R, Diniz G, Durkin K, Echegaray M, Eremsoy E, Euler HA, Falzon R, Fisher ML, Foley D, Fry DP, Fry S, Ghayur MA, Golden DL, Grammer K, Grimaldi L, Halberstadt J, Herrera D, Hertel J, Hoffmann H, Hooper D, Hradilekova Z, Hudek-Kene-evi J, Jaafer J, Jankauskaite M, Kabangu-Stahel H, Kardum I, Khoury B, Kwon H, Laidra K, Laireiter AR, Lakerveld D, Lampert A, Lauri M, Lavallee M, Lee SJ, Leung LC, Locke KD, Locke V, Luksik I, Magaisa I, Marcinkeviciene D, Mata A, Mata R, McCarthy B, Mills ME, Moreira J, Moreira S, Moya M, Munyae M, Noller P, Opre A, Panayiotou A, Petrovic N, Poels K, Popper M, Poulimenou M, P'yatokha V, Raymond M, Reips UD, Reneau SE, Rivera-Aragon S, Rowatt WC, Ruch W, Rus VS, Safir MP, Salas S, Sambataro F, Sandnabba KN, Schulmeyer MK, Schütz A, Scrimali T, Shackelford TK, Shaver PR, Sichona F, Simonetti F, Sinehsaw T, Speelman T, Spyrou S, Sümer HC, Sumer N, Supekova M, Szlendak T, Taylor R, Timmermans B, Tooke W, Tsaousis I, Tungaraza FS, Vandermassen G, Vanhoomissen T, van Overwalle F, Vanwesenbeeck I, Vasey PL, Verissimo J, Voracek M, Wan WW, Wang TW, Weiss P, Wijaya A, Woertman L, Youn G, Zupanèiè A. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 2003; 85(1): 85-104.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois 61625, USA. dps@bradley.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12872886

Abstract

Evolutionary psychologists have hypothesized that men and women possess both long-term and short-term mating strategies, with men's short-term strategy differentially rooted in the desire for sexual variety. In this article, findings from a cross-cultural survey of 16,288 people across 10 major world regions (including North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia) demonstrate that sex differences in the desire for sexual variety are culturally universal throughout these world regions. Sex differences were evident regardless of whether mean, median, distributional, or categorical indexes of sexual differentiation were evaluated. Sex differences were evident regardless of the measures used to evaluate them. Among contemporary theories of human mating, pluralistic approaches that hypothesize sex differences in the evolved design of short-term mating provide the most compelling account of these robust empirical findings.

Language: en