Cross-cultural data on romantic love and mate preferences from 117,293 participants across 175 countries
: Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Gjoneska, Biljana; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Pfuhl, Gerit; Aguilar, Leonardo; Janssen, Steve M. J.; Gelbart, Benjamin; Arriaga, Patricia; Antfolk, Jan; Zvoncakova, Katarina; Lidborg, Linda H.; Contreras-Garduno, Jorge; Kozlov, Mikhail, V; Milfont, Taciano L.; Varella, Marco A. C.; Krizanic, Valerija; Boussena, Mahmoud; Kavcic, Tina; da Silva, Diana Ribeiro; Hamdaoui, Brahim; Sahli, Fatima Zahra; Massar, Karlijn; Deschrijver, Eliane; Ishii, Tatsunori; Cetinkaya, Hakan; Senyk, Oksana; Guemaz, Farida; Ponnet, Koen; Don, Yahya; Sakan, Dusana; Yoo, Gyesook; Nussinson, Ravit; Ungaretti, Joaquin; Can, Ali R.; Duyar, Izzet; Cenek, Jiri; Carneiro, Joao; Mesko, Norbert; Kozma, Luca; Nyhus, Ellen K.; Vintila, Mona; Zerhouni, Oulmann; Pazhoohi, Farid; Zupancic, Maja; Soylemez, Sinem; Wang, Austin H. -E.; Papadatou-Pastou, Marietta; Banai, Irena Pavela; Prokop, Pavol; Omar Fauzee, Mohd Sofian; Afhami, Reza; Natividade, Jean C.; Baiocco, Roberto; Morelli, Mara; Aavik, Toivo; Toplu-Demirtas, Ezgi; Tulyakul, Singha; Wlodarczyk, Anna; Chegeni, Razieh; Santos, Anabela C.; Grigoryev, Dmitry; Dubrov, Dmitrii; Chubinidze, Dimitri; Ikizer, Gozde; Burduli, Nana; Czamanski-Cohen, Johanna; Amin, Rizwana; Roussos, Petros; Hristova, Evgeniya; Sargautyte, Ruta; Pirtskhalava, Ekaterine; Avirmed, Tenuunjargal; Najmussaqib, Arooj; Charyate, Abdelilah; Batool, Shagufta; Volkodav, Tatiana; Kunisato, Yoshihiko; Yamada, Yuki; Toyama, Asako; Perun, Mariia; Dural, Seda; Mandzyk, Tetyana; Studzinska, Anna; Spasovski, Ognen; Garcia, Felipe E.; Grano, Caterina; Boga, Merve; Koyuncu, Mehmet; Singh, Sangeeta; Park, Ju Hee; Atamturk, Derya; Lins, Samuel; Pirko, Martin; Lacko, David; Aczel, Balazs; Kocsor, Ferenc; Putz, Adam; Otterbring, Tobias; Kacmar, Pavol; Manunta, Efisio; Besson, Theo; Moharrampour, Nasim Ghahraman; Solak, Caglar; Dinic, Bojana M.; Estevan, Ignacio; Bulut, Merve Topcu; Kervyn, Nicolas; Mebarak, Moises; Lu, Jackson G.; Plohl, Nejc; Musil, Bojan; Samekin, Adil; Miroshnik, Kirill G.; Cornec, Clement; Giammusso, Isabella; Reips, Ulf-Dietrich; Miccoli, Maria Rosa; Parise, Miriam; Stoeckli, Sabrina; Marot, Tiago; Aquino, Sibele D.; Londero-Santos, Amanda; Chirumbolo, Antonio; Memisoglu-Sanli, Aybegum; Valentova, Jaroslava V.; Karaarslan, Cemre; Hromatko, Ivana; Kertechian, Kevin Sevag; Coker, Ogeday; Ribeiro, Matheus F.; Batres, Carlota; Dalgar, Ilker; Eder, Stephanie J.; Misetic, Katarina; Argyrides, Marios; Mikuliciute, Vita; Mari, Silvia; Oberzaucher, Elisabeth; Masuch, Kathrin; Mattiassi, Alan D. A.; Omar, Salma S.; Piccinelli, Elena; Caglar, Eda Ermagan; Lamela, Diogo; Frederick, David A.; Kobylarek, Aleksander; Pacquing, Ma Criselda T.; Reyes, Marc Eric S.; Zumarraga-Espinosa, Marcos; Fekih-Romdhane, Feten; Yepes, Talia Gomez; Etchezahar, Edgardo; Galasinska, Katarzyna; Roeer, Jan P.; Sahin, Aysegul; Landa-Blanco, Miguel; Ndukaihe, Izuchukwu L. G.; Urbanek, Arkadiusz; Tan, Chee-Seng; Castro, Rita; Cunichina, Ksenija; Krasnodebska, Anna; Conroy-Beam, Daniel; Ostaszewski, Franciszek; Chalatkiewicz, Izabela; Abad-Villaverde, Beatriz; Tremoliere, Bastien; Arvanitis, Alexios; Topanova, Gulmira T.; Chopik, William J.; Akello, Grace; Pagani, Ariela F.; Donato, Silvia; Fedor, Peter; Frackowiak, Tomasz; Ozer, Simon; Mayorga-Lascano, Marlon; Khan, Farah; Fisher, Maryanne L.; Maturan, Princess Lovella G.; Semenovskikh, Tatiana; Dutt, Sanjana; Tamayo-Agudelo, William; Ismukhanova, Gulnara; Al-Shawaf, Laith; Angelucci, Luisa; Bode, Adam; Balim, Sercan; Dacanay, Jovi C.; Atama, Chiemezie S.; Campbell, Kai A. D. Morgan; Simoes, Tchilissila A.; Ozener, Baris; Blauciak, Paula; Prazeres, Filipe
Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO
: BERLIN
: 2025
: Scientific Data
: SCIENTIFIC DATA
: SCI DATA
: 1103
: 12
: 12
: 2052-4463
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05365-2
: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-05365-2
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499558455
Psychological studies on close relationships have often overlooked cultural diversity, dynamic processes, and potentially universal principles that shape intimate partnerships. To address the limited generalizability of previous research and advance our understanding of romantic love experiences, mate preferences, and physical attractiveness, we conducted a large-scale cross-cultural survey study on these topics. A total of 404 researchers collected data in 45 languages from April to August 2021, involving 117,293 participants from 175 countries. Aside from standard demographic questions, the survey included valuable information on variables relevant to romantic relationships: intimate, passionate, and committed love within romantic relationships, physical-attractiveness enhancing behaviors, gender equality endorsement, collectivistic attitudes, personal history of pathogenic diseases, relationship quality, jealousy, personal involvement in sexual and/or emotional infidelity, relational mobility, mate preferences, and acceptance of sugar relationships. The resulting dataset provides a rich resource for investigating patterns within, and associations across, a broad range of variables relevant to romantic relationships, with extensive opportunities to analyze individual experiences worldwide.
:
This work is the result of the research project funded by the National Science Center, Poland (2019/33/N/HS6/00054). Marta Kowal was supported by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) START scholarship. Toivo Aavik was supported by the Estonian Research Council grant (PRG2190). The authors would like to thank the following scholars for their help with the translation: Christin-Melanie Vauclair Melanie, Catia Carvalho, Diogo Lamela, Elena Piccinelli, Anabela Caetano Santos, Patrícia Arriaga, and Isabel Pinto (Portuguese), Stanislava Stoyanova (Bulgarian), Vira Hrabchuk and Anne MacFarlane (Ukrainian). The authors would also like to thank the following organizations and individuals for their help with organizing data collection in El Salvador: the Escuela de Comunicacion Monica Herrera, Directora Nicole Paetz, asistente María Erlinda Avalos, Diego Infante, and Gabriela Quintanilla. Finally, the authors would like to thank all participants who devoted their time to answer the survey and to share the survey link with others.
