Link to study: http://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000162


  • Student sample, age 19-30 (mean 22).

There it is:

  • The variable “How attractive did you find the other person for short-term, casual sex (a one-night stand)” (7-point scale from 1 "well below average" and 7 "well above average") correlated with the variable "had sex" with r = .47** for women (n = 69, p < .01), but r = -.12 for men (n = 45, non-significant). Test for inequality: p = 0.001.

Other insights:

  • Among singles, in the most recent encounter with the opposite sex, women felt around d = 0.9 less sexually attracted, which is, as far as I can tell, even worse than the ratings in online dating, but not sure if significantly. It's not exactly the same variables, but I think once more evidence that online dating is not substantially different from offline dating.

    Regarding own sexual attraction men reported on average on the midpoint of the scale, whereas women on average reported their own sexual attraction in the lower end of the scale.

  • Also interesting which I mentioned before:

    Relative to nonfreshmen women, freshmen women’s odds of ending up having sex was 3.7 times higher.

    I'm curious about the causes, whether they discover they can control men by giving out less sex, or it's intrasexual female competition (fear of losing reputation etc.) which may not matter so much in the beginning.


A news article about the same study: https://geminiresearchnews.com/2019/04/men-sometimes-act-less-interested-in-sex-in-order-to-get-it/


Edit: It should be noted that short-term attractiveness is basically only about looks. Personality and achievements play hardly any role: