Patterns and Universals of Mate Poaching Across 53 Nations: The Effects of Sex, Culture, and Personality on Romantically Attracting Another Person's Partner

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David P. Schmitt, Lidia Alcalay, Jüri Allik, Alois Angleitner, Lara Ault, Ivars Austers, Kevin L. Bennett, Gabriel Bianchi, Fredric Boholst, Mary Ann Borg Cunen, Johan Braeckman, Edwin G. Brainerd Jr., Leo Gerard A. Caral, Gabrielle Caron, Maria Martina Casullo, Michael Cunningham, Ikuo Daibo, Charlotte De Backer, Eros De Souza, Rolando Diaz-Loving, Gláucia Diniz, Kevin Durkin, Marcela Echegaray, Ekin Eremsoy, Harald A. Euler, Ruth Falzon, Maryanne L. Fisher, Dolores Foley, Douglas P. Fry, Sirspa Fry, M. Arif Ghayur, Debra L. Golden, Karl Grammer, Liria Grimaldi, Jamin Halberstadt, Shamsul Haque, Dora Herrera, Janine Hertel, Heather Hoffmann, Danica Hooper, Zuzana Hradilekova, Jasna Hudek-Kene-evi, Jas Jaafar, Margarita Jankauskaite, Heidi Kabangu-Stahel, Igor Kardum, Brigitte Khoury, Hayrran Kwon, Kaia Laidra, Anton-Rupert Laireiter, Dustin Lakerveld, Ada Lampert, Maryanne Lauri, Marguerite Lavallée, Suk-Jae Lee, Luk Chung Leung, Kenneth D. Locke, Vance Locke, Ivan Luksik, Ishmael Magaisa, Dalia Marcinkeviciene, André Mata, Rui Mata, Barry McCarthy, Michael E. Mills, Nhlanhla J. Mkhize, João Moreira, Sérgio Moreira, Miguel Moya, M. Munyae, Patricia Noller, Adrian Opre, Alexia Panayiotou, Nebojsa Petrovic, Karolien Poels, Miroslav Popper, Maria Poulimenou, Volodymyr P'yatokha, Michel Raymond, Ulf-Dietrich Reips, Susan E. Reneau, Sofia Rivera-Aragon, Wade C. Rowatt, Willibald Ruch, Velko S. Rus, Marilyn P. Safir, Sonia Salas, Fabio Sambataro, Kenneth N. Sandnabba, Marion K. Schulmeyer, Astrid Schütz, Tullio Scrimali, Todd K. Shackelford, Phillip R. Shaver, Francis Sichona, Franco Simonetti, Tilahun Sineshaw, Tom Speelman, Spyros Spyrou, H. Canan Sümer, Nebi Sümer, Marianna Supekova, Tomasz Szlendak, Robin Taylor, Bert Timmermans, William Tooke, Ioannis Tsaousis, F.S.K. Tungaraza, Griet Vandermassen, Tim Vanhoomissen, Frank Van Overwalle, Ine Vanwesenbeeck, Paul L. Vasey, João Verissimo, Martin Voracek, Wendy W. N. Wan, Ta-Wei Wang, Peter Weiss, Andik Wijaya, Liesbeth Woertman, Gahyun Youn, Agata Zupanèiè

2004 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Vol. 86 Issue 4 Review Cited by 186 Quartile

Abstract

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, 16,954 participants from 53 nations were administered an anonymous survey about experiences with romantic attraction. Mate poaching - romantically attracting someone who is already in a relationship - was most common in Southern Europe, South America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe and was relatively infrequent in Africa, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Evolutionary and social-role hypotheses received empirical support. Men were more likely than women to report having made and succumbed to short-term poaching across all regions, but differences between men and women were often smaller in more gender-egalitarian regions. People who try to steal another's mate possess similar personality traits across all regions, as do those who frequently receive and succumb to the poaching attempts by others. The authors conclude that human mate-poaching experiences are universally linked to sex, culture, and the robust influence of personal dispositions.

Affiliations

Department of Psychology, Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625, United States; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; University of Louisville, United States; University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia; University of New Mexico, United States; Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia; University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines; University of Malta, Msida, Malta; Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Clemson University, United States; Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada; University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Osaka University, Osaka, Japan; Illinois State University, United States; National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico; University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil; The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia; University of Lima, Lima, Peru; Bogaziçi Üniversitesi, Istanbul, Turkey; University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany; York University, Toronto, ON, Canada; University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland; Al- Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco; University of Hawaii-Manoa, United States; Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, Vienna, Austria; University of Catania, Catania, Italy; University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Technische Universität Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany; Knox College, United States; Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia; University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania; Centre d'Enseignement les Gazelles, Kinsasha-Gombe, Democratic Republic Congo; American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; Kwangju Health College, Shinchang-dong, South Korea; Institute of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria; University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; The Ruppin Institute, Emek Hefer, Israel; Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada; National Computerization Agency, Yongingsi Gyonggido, South Korea; City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; University of Idaho, United States; University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe; University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal; University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom; Loyola Marymount University, United States; University of Granada, Granada, Spain; University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana; Babes Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca, Romania; University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus; University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; KPMG Kyriacou Counsultants SA, Athens, Greece; Volyn Regional Hospital, Lutsk, Volyn, Ukraine; Université de Montpellier II, Montpellier, France; Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; University of Alabama, United States; Baylor University, United States; Queens University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom; University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile; Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Santa Cruz, Bolivia; Florida Atlantic University, United States; University of California at Davis, United States; University of Dares Salaam, Dares Salaam, Tanzania; Ramapo College of New Jersey, United States; Cyprus College, Nicosia, Cyprus; Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey; Nicholas Copernicus University, Torun, Poland; University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji; Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; SUNY, Plattsburgh, United States; University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece; Netherlands Institute of Social Sexological Research, Utrecht, Netherlands; University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AL, Canada; University of Vienna Medical School, Vienna, Austria; University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Yuan Ze University, Chung-Li, Taiwan; Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Couple Clinic Indonesia, Surabaya, Indonesia; Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands; Chonnam National University, Kwangju, South Korea; University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; University of Bielefeld, Germany; University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; University of Natal, South Africa