Our results largely replicated the findings by Sprecher et al. (1994) showing that in 9 out of 12 tests, the direction of the effect was the same. On average, women were more likely than men to indicate a preference for marrying someone older. Women also emphasized physical attractiveness less than men did, but valued a high earning potential more so than men did. Men on the other hand were more willing to marry someone younger, unlikely to hold a steady job, and with low earning potential than women did. However, there were some notable contrasts with the original study. For example, the overall magnitude of the sex differences seems smaller in our data than in Sprecher et al.’s (in 9 out of 12 tests, the absolute effect size was stronger in the original study). Sex differences in willingness to marry someone of different race or with less education had narrowed as predicted. However, unlike the 1994 study and against our second hypothesis, we observed a significant sex difference for willingness to marry the previously married, with women indicating a higher willingness to marry someone who had been married before. No other mate preferences displayed a narrowing between the sexes. Finally, our additional question also indicated that in our sample, women found marriage more important in long-term relationships than men did. This variable also moderated the willingness to marry someone older by five or more years, reducing the observed gender difference in willingness to marry someone older by five or more years. Our data suggest that when women indicated that marriage was important to them, they tended to be more willing to marry somebody who was older by 5 years or more. In contrast, for men, the importance of marriage was not significantly related to the willingness to marry someone who was 5 or more years older than themselves. We did not further explore individual differences and preferences, but for further research, it would be interesting to examine the degree to which attitudes towards marriage influence preferences.

By and large, our results are thus consistent with the proposed evolved mate preferences as argued for by evolutionary psychologists (e.g., Buss and Schmitt 1993; Buss 1994; Ellis 1992; Miller 2000). At the same time, shifting sociocultural changes (e.g., norms) are also important to our findings. For example, our data show no significant sex difference in the reported willingness to marry someone of a different ethnicity, contrary to the original findings by Sprecher and colleagues (Sprecher et al. 1994). This could be explained by broader social changes in stereotypes, such as interethnic marriages becoming more common in recent years (Qian 2005). Similarly, the absence of a significant sex difference in preferences for marrying someone with less education could potentially be explained by increased education levels across the whole U.S. population and that women are increasingly pursuing higher education (Taylor et al. 2011), thus making it more acceptable and unimportant whether one marries “above or below” a certain education level. At the same time, the finding that women were more willing than men to marry someone with more education suggests that especially highly educated women might find it difficult to find a partner on the marriage market (e.g., Kashyap et al. 2015). Further, longitudinal analyses are if necessary to investigate the effect of a “marriage squeeze” for education would influence women’s mate preferences and outcomes on the marriage market. As our data are cross-sectional and deal with preferences, we can only speculate the degree to which preferences for educational attainment will affect actual choice on the marriage market.

Finally, the finding that women were more willing to marry someone previously married is in line with research suggesting that marriage has become less important for young adults’ transition into adulthood (Kefalas et al. 2011) and that, through deinstitutionalization of marriage (Cherlin 2004), marriage has become less formal and less tied to one’s social reputation and success. Moreover, due to a rise in divorce rates, there is now an increased availability of the previously married on the marriage market (Goldscheider et al. 2009). This implies that being previously married might carry much less weight today as a potential cue to mate value, compared to what it did in the past. Being previously married could potentially function as a cue to “good mate value,” in much the same way as the purported wedding ring effect (e.g., Waynforth 2007). That being said, the meaning of marriage, and the potential stigma associated with divorce, likely differs between now and 20 years ago and it is possible that individuals are simply more indifferent to (previous) marriage.

Limitations

Unlike the original study, designed to be nationally representative, we relied on an online opportunity sample via CrowdFlower. It has been argued that such online studies capture to a large degree similar results as those in a psychology laboratory (Buhrmester et al. 2011; Stewart et al. 2015). Nonetheless, our sample is not representative of the U.S. population, and we should therefore be careful with generalizing our findings; for example, as money is a key incentive for online workers, we might have selected individuals who strongly differ from the general U.S. population. More broadly, we should also stress that the data we presented here are from a very particular sample and it is unclear whether any results would generalize to other Western societies or more broadly can be taken as being indicative of universal mate preferences (Henrich et al. 2010). However, we believe these data are apt for attempting to replicate the original Sprecher et al. (1994) study, with the additional caveat that questions about marriage might be very differently approached now than 20 years ago.