Variability in mating strategies: do individual differences in dispositional traits predict sexual preferences?

Abstract

Prior research by evolutionary psychologists has examined dispositional predictors, such as personality, sociosexuality, life history, and attachment style, in relation to mating, yet only one study has examined how these traits predict an individual‘s sexual preferences (i.e., Peterson, Geher, & Kaufman, 2011). Thus, the current study, extending the research of Peterson, Geher, and Kaufman (2011), examined previous studied dispositional predictors, including the Big Five, sociosexuality, life history, and mating intelligence, and three additional ones, attachment, sex drive, and disgust sensitivity. A sample of 638 participants completed a battery of measures of each of these traits as well as providing information about their sexual preferences. The traits predicted variability in sexual preferences – with the attachment dimensions, avoidance and anxiety, and sex drive being most predictive. In addition, sex differences emerged (e.g., males reported enjoying most of the sex acts more than females). Discussion focuses on (a) comparing the results of the current study with Peterson, Geher, and Kaufman (2011), (b) sex differences in preferences for the sex acts, and (c) attachment, sex drive, and disgust sensitivity as predictors of sexual preferences.