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Wealth is key for marriage, study claims
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Posted by: goforit

Wealth is key for marriage, study claims
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 12/12/2007

A man's riches, not his looks, are most important if he wants to settle down, according to a pioneering study of the "marriage market" by psychologists.

Although there have been many lab based studies that have suggested that women are drawn to men of high status, power and wealth, rather than just looks, a new study provides hard evidence of the marriage market in action.

The survey of more than 20,000 American men, based on historical data from the turn of the last century, suggests how when men become in short supply, for instance in the wake of the First World War, women are happy to put up with poorer partners of lesser social sway.

And when men are commonplace, women are in the driving seat and become correspondingly more choosy, driving a hard bargain for the richest and most powerful men, with the marriage prospects of a male pauper being "drastically reduced".

The findings back a prediction made more than a decade ago that also said men will become more faithful to their wives and take more interest in their children when women are in short supply.

The revelations have come from a study of US data from 1910, where the ratio of men to women varies from state to state, published in the journal Biology Letters by Thomas Pollet and Daniel Nettle of Newcastle University.

Little research within evolutionary psychology, so far, has considered how 'the market' influences individual decisions," said Mr Pollet.

"Here we show that if men are abundant, this will influence the market value of their desired traits, that is, women can demand more. This aspect, namely individual decision making as a function of the mating market (local abundance or scarcity), has been relatively neglected within the literature on human mate choice."

When men and women are in equal supply, mathematical models predict that men who are married will have a slightly higher socioeconomic status than unmarried men.

"As the sex ratio increases, married men are predicted to need up two or three times the socioeconomic status of unmarried men".

To illustrate what they mean by this, they took the example of a 30 year old with a low and a high socioeconomic status. With equal numbers of men and women theory predicts that 56 per cent of low status men would be married once, whereas 60 per cent of high status men would.

But when men are plentiful, so there are 11 for every 10 women, only 24 per cent of low status men would be married once, compared with 46 per cent of high status men. Thus low status men become 2.31 times less likely to marry, whereas high status men are 1.31 times less likely.

And as there are more men, the effect of wealth and power on the probability of marriage became stronger. "This means that the effects of a male-biased sex ratio fell disproportionately on low-status men, whose probability of marriage was drastically reduced."

The work confirms a prediction made by Frank Pedersen of the University of Delaware in 1991 that the sex ratio has a big impact on the marriage market.

Pedersen suggested that people will change many aspects of their behaviour as a knock-on effect of the competition induced by sex ratio fluctuations. For men, these include greater fidelity, commitment to careers, and increased investment in children when women are scarce.

"Thus, much about the varying ethos of male and female behaviour across populations and across time could in principle be explained with reference to the sex ratio," said Mr. Pollet.

"These questions are ripe for future investigation, but our study has clearly established the more limited fact that sex ratio fluctuations in modern humans can put one sex in the driving seat and allow them to drive a hard bargain."

Posted by: AkMike

Where was this study published at?

Posted by: goforit

Biology Letters Journal

http://publishing.royalsociety.org/index.cfm?page=1005

You have to pay to get access to the full study however.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

One more reason to seek a woman from the FSU. The serious ones aren't as hung up on power, status, and money ... or looks in my case!

Posted by: goforit

I think you misread that article. To me it suggests precisely why many of us should seek a woman from the FSU or other parts of the world. As a general rule (although its changing in some parts of the FSU) they appreciate financial stability, the ability to provide, etc. without getting hung up on looks and six pack abs like many western women.

GTR, I think you are underestimating yourself and thinking of riches and power in a western sort of way. If you have the ability to travel to Russia on several occasions and bring home a foreign bride, that labels you as a man of some means who is stable and able to provide for a woman. I think a lot of women would appreciate that regardless of how you look.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Yes I agree with you about the meaning of the article. I was agreeing with it and saying that this is another reason to pursue a foreign bride.

I was joking about my looks. I've never been called ugly!

Posted by: Jerico

Quote:

If you have the ability to travel to Russia on several occasions and bring home a foreign bride, that labels you as a man of some means who is stable and able to provide for a woman.

I totally agree with this statement.
I am far from rich but poor? no
Jerry

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Yes I agree too. I'm not rich, just upper middle class. The only reason I can comfortably afford this is because I was heavily invested in the stock market in the 1990s and got out just before the crash. I bought a house and banked a lot of profits. So I guess you can say I'm lucky ... with a stable job. We'll see about providing ... Jerico's lovely lady likes the expensive stuff ... we will see what my Larisa likes when she arrives next month!!!

Posted by: Spakoyna

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoingToRussia

Yes I agree too. I'm not rich, just upper middle class. The only reason I can comfortably afford this is because I was heavily invested in the stock market in the 1990s and got out just before the crash. I bought a house and banked a lot of profits. So I guess you can say I'm lucky ... with a stable job. We'll see about providing ... Jerico's lovely lady likes the expensive stuff ... we will see what my Larisa likes when she arrives next month!!!

LOL! I bet you won't be shopping for clothes at Walmart anymore!

The money thing does get old. Almost every(actually trying to think of one who hasn't) FSU woman my wife has met here is drilling her about our finances within 30 minute of their 1st meeting! The motive always seems to be 1 of 2 things...They are looking for greener pastures or wanting to flaunt what they have! We both like to fly under the radar if ya know what I mean. We are not millionaires but we definately are not paupers either. My wife and I laugh at some of these women...definately the keep up with the Jone's type and in hock up to their nose!

Posted by: GoingToRussia

We've discussed my income and finances, she said it doesn't matter. In fact she wasn't interested when we talked about it. I gave her my first I-134 at the end of August and she looked at it for the first time last week after I sent a new one in the mail. It looks like she is the real deal!

Posted by: goforit

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoingToRussia

Yes I agree with you about the meaning of the article. I was agreeing with it and saying that this is another reason to pursue a foreign bride.

I was joking about my looks. I've never been called ugly!

Oops, I guess you didn't misread the article but rather I misread your response!

Posted by: goforit

By the way, can you imagine someone not familiar with the English language trying to deal with the pronunciation of my last post above? Miss - reed versus miss-red

Posted by: goforit

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoingToRussia

Ahhh...so that is where you found the time to make nearly 5,000 posts! Seriously, I don't know how you guys do it.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Quote:

Originally Posted by goforit

Ahhh...so that is where you found the time to make nearly 5,000 posts! Seriously, I don't know how you guys do it.

Actually, I have a "9-5" job and been searching for a foreign bride for 2 years, a member here for 21 months. I've been through K-1 and K-3 visas and did the research on a student visa. I was also married in Russia which requires a lot of paperwork ... and then divorced. So I had a lot of information to search for and questions to ask. The members here have been great in helping me along the way, many no longer post. So this is why I have all those posts.

This forum has helped me in so many ways. I have also met some great people and talked to a few guys from Canada and Australia. I made two great friends on this forum. They are both married to women from the FSU and aren't around as much. We use to pass many hours in "The Pit" and supported each other when we missed our ladies.

I don't know what the future brings but I hope I still find time to visit here after I marry next month.

Take care and good luck goforit. I'm looking forward to your posts.

Posted by: Jerico

Quote:

Jerico's lovely lady likes the expensive stuff

Hehehe , you got that right GTR and i thought I was marrying a peasant girl.
Couldn`t be farther from the truth.
Its not that she likes expensive but she wants quality and china just doesn`t do it for her.
Quality products usually cost more , thats just life.
She buys her own stuff however. I hardly ever get her cloths anymore.
She will be the first to point that out

Jerry

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerico

Jerry

Well I only plan on buying her clothes from one store ... which will remain a "secret"!!!

Posted by: dagpop

There is one thing you have to be rich to do. You have to have enough money to get to the point of marrying her. I know G has put out a lot of money to get to point he is at now.