Abstract: Many efforts have been made by existing literature on the characteristics of female mating preferences, such as the dimensions of female mating preferences and the priorities of different preferences during various mating situations. However, little has been known whether and why the female mating preferences would change according to environmental and social factors. Life history theory implies that human life history strategies would vary because of environmental conditions, including the preferences for choosing a mate. Based on previous literature, the current study is mainly focused on how sex ratio (current environmental clue) and childhood economic condition would influence women’s mating preferences. Two experiments were conducted to explore the hypothesized relationship among female mating preferences, sex ratio, and childhood economic condition. In experiment 1, 76 unmarried female participants with an average age of 20.25(SD=2.47) years old were recruited. Participants were divided into two groups randomly. Firstly, they filled the items on their demographic information and childhood economic background. Then they were required to imagine the situation of “more female less male” or “more male less female” and write an article of about 400 words to describe the situation in detail. After that the participants rated the mate preference items. The results in experiment 1 showed that females tend to demand more on their preferences for “good father” and “good resource” in long-term mating situations, and demand more for “good genes” in short-term mating situations. What is more, the interaction effect between sex ratio and childhood economic condition on female preference for “good partner” was significant in long-term mating situation. For those who had a higher level of childhood economic condition, the preferences for “good father” qualities would hardly be influenced by sex ratio; However, for those who had a relatively lower level of childhood economic condition, their preferences for “good father” qualities varied according to different sex ratio, in long-term mating situations. Participants with lower childhood economic condition showed significantly higher level of long-term preferences for “good father” qualities when primed by a higher sex ratio scenario (more men) than a lower sex ratio scenario (more women). The main effects of sex ratio priming on long-term “good partner” preferences were also significant. In study 2, 103 unmarried female participants with an average age of 18.81(SD=0.89) years old were recruited. Firstly, all the subjects were divided into two groups randomly. After filling with the demographic data subjects were required to watch carefully a series of 8 photo pictures with brief introductive information follow each picture. The series of pictures were used as the priming of unbalanced sex ratio with one including 6 male and 2 female photo pictures, and the other one including 6 female and 2 male pictures. Finally, participants rated the mating preference items. The results in experiment 2 were the similar as that in experiment 1. Conclusion: Both of the two experiments indicated that female mating preferences would vary according to environmental clues, and the influence patterns seem to be different among females with different childhood economic background. This study shed light on the field of mating preferences from the perspective of evolutionary psychology.

Key words: sex ratio, childhood economic condition, long-term mating, short-term mating, life history theory

摘要： 基于进化领域的生命史理论，采用两种实验启动的途径探讨性别比、童年经济状况和女性长短期择偶偏好间的关系。结果表明：女性在长期择偶中更为重视男性的“好爸爸”和“好资源”，在短期择偶中更为重视男性的“好基因”；性别比在女性长期择偶的“好爸爸”偏好上具有显著主效应，在“女多男少”情境下女性对“好爸爸”的偏好水平会较“男多女少”时明显提高；性别比和童年经济状况在女性长期择偶“好爸爸”偏好上的交互效应显著：童年贫穷女性在“女多”情境下会明显提高对长期择偶“好爸爸”的偏好水平，童年富裕女性在性别失衡情境下对长期“好爸爸”的偏好保持相对稳定。

关键词: 性别比, 童年经济状况, 长期择偶, 短期择偶, 生命史理论