'IEREK Research Enrichment and Knowledge Exchange'
Abstract
This study surveyed unmarried, randomly selected university students to discover how they rated themselves regarding physical attractiveness, what range of attractiveness they would consider in a romantic partner, and what would cause them to deviate from this range. The results showed that the most frequently chosen rating for self-attractiveness was a 7 (on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most attractive) for both men and women. A t-test showed that men had a slightly higher mean of rating than women in their own level of attractiveness, though these results were not statistically significant. When asked for a range of attractiveness that respondents were willing to consider in a dating partner, the most frequently chosen number for the lowest level was 7. For the highest level of attractiveness in their range, about half of the participants selected 10. A t-test revealed that women had a slightly lower mean for the low end of the range of attractiveness they were willing to accept in a dating partner than males, which was statistically significant. Another t-test, though not statistically significant, revealed that men had a slightly higher mean in the high range of attractiveness they were willing to accept in a dating partner than women. Perhaps the most interesting finding was that not only were both genders willing to deviate from their standard of attractiveness in a dating partner (given the right circumstances), but women were much more likely to deviate than men
