A Comparative Study Of Chinese And American Mate Selection Preferences From The Cross-Cultural Perspective

Mate selection is a very important choice in people's life.With the increasing proportion of single people and due to the narrower and narrower social circles for these people,as a way of mate selection,dating ads have been more and more acceptable especially after the popularity of online dating websites.Previous studies on mate selection have covered many fields,like sociology,psychology,sociolinguistics and so on.The focus of previous studies is mainly on the language and contents of dating ads.However,few research has been conducted on dating ads,especially online dating ads from the cultural perspective.Based on the exchange theory as well as Hofstede's cultural value dimensions,this thesis aims to make a comparative study of Chinese and American mate selection preferences from the cross-cultural perspective,which attempts to answer three questions:(1)What mate traits are considered most important in Chinese and American dating ads respectively?And what are the differences concerning these mate traits?(2)What gender differences can be reflected in these mate traits?And what are the reasons hidden behind these differences?(3)What cultural differences can be reflected in these mate traits?And what are the reasons behind these differences?Both quantitative and qualitative methods are adopted.Altogether,400 online dating ads have been collected.200 pieces of Chinese online dating ads are from www,jiavuan.com.200 pieces of American online dating ads are from www.match.com.All subjects of these dating advertisements are unmarried single men and women.With the help of Microsoft Excel,the frequency and rank order of mate selection attributes are calculated.By applying SPSS software,correlation analysis is processed regarding gender differences and cultural differences.The conclusion can be drawn from the study that(1)Chinese advertisers pay more attention to external conditions,like age,height,economical status whereas American advertisers emphasize more on internal feelings and they care more about interests,personalities,life styles and so on in mate selection;(2)There do exist some gender differences in Chinese and American mate selection,and gender differences in China is bigger than that of in America;(3)Cultural value differences between China and America found in this study are consistent with Hofstede's value dimensions.