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Correlated Preferences for Male Facial Masculinity and Partner Traits in Gay and Bisexual Men in China

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Abstract

Previous studies have documented the correlation between preferences for male facial masculinity and perceived masculinity: women who rate their male partner as more masculine tend to prefer more masculine faces. Men’s self-rated masculinity predicts their female partner’s preference for masculinity. This study examined the association between other trait preferences and preference for male facial masculinity among 556 gay and bisexual men across multiple cities in China. Participants were asked to choose the three most important traits in a romantic partner from a list of 23 traits. Each participant was then asked to choose a preferred face in each of 10 pairs of male faces presented sequentially, with each pair consisting of a masculinized and feminized version of the same base face. The results indicated that preferences for health and status-related traits were correlated with preferences for male facial masculinity in gay and bisexual men in China; individuals who were more health- or status-oriented in their preferences for a romantic partner preferred more masculine male faces than individuals with lower levels of these orientations. The findings have implications for the correlated preferences for facial masculinity and health- and status-related traits and may be related to perceived health and dominance/aggression of masculine faces based on a sample of non-Western gay and bisexual men.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Humanity and Social Science Youth Foundation of Ministry of Education (13XJC190003), by Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20130182120014), by the “Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (SWU1309259),” by the Doctoral Scientific Fund (SWU1209312) of Southwest University, China, and the National Key Discipline Project (TR201206-1 & TR201206-6) of China.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China

    Lijun Zheng & Yong Zheng

  2. Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Lijun Zheng & Yong Zheng

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  1. Lijun Zheng
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Correspondence to Yong Zheng.

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Zheng, L., Zheng, Y. Correlated Preferences for Male Facial Masculinity and Partner Traits in Gay and Bisexual Men in China. Arch Sex Behav 44, 1423–1430 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0407-y

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