Men's Perceptions of, and Preferences for, Women's Body Size: Comparison between Chinese American Men and Chinese Men in Hong Kong

The goal of the current study was to examine the preferences of heterosexual Chinese American men and Chinese men in Hong Kong (H.K.) for women's body size, specifically the "perfect girlfriend/wife". Previous authors examined a few of the factors associated with the body sizes that men (and women) find attractive. However, research studying the relationship between men's preference for women's body size and other factors is limited. The current study examined culturally-sensitive factors, such as subjective social status (SSS), face concerns (LOF), and Asian values (AVS) in an international sample of 64 Chinese men living in the United States and 59 living in H.K. who were asked about the body size they prefer for the "perfect girlfriend/wife" and the body size of their "actual girlfriend/wife." Participants were recruited through multiple social networking websites, such as Facebook, and were asked to fill out an electronic survey via Qualtrics. The survey included demographic questions, participants' perfect and actual girlfriend/wife's body size, personal SSS, family SSS, LOF, and AVS. Results showed that both U.S. and H.K. Chinese men tended to have a higher preference of women with lower than average body weight. Also, age showed a strong positive relationship between the U.S. Chinese men's selection of perfect and actual girlfriend/wife body weight. Moreover, LOF and AVS were positively correlated among both nationalities. Finally, more than 50% of participants from each nationality experienced a discrepancy between their girlfriend/wife's perfect and actual body weight, and 40 out of 123 participants indicated that they preferred their girlfriend/wife to lose weight.