We asked students to rank the following five categories in terms of how much they matter to them in finding a partner.
Physical Attractiveness
Sense of Humor
Personality
Earning Potential
Willingness to Spend Time With You
When it comes to the top priority, a clear majority chose “personality” and for the bottom priority “earning potential.” We didn’t specify whether they were identifying short-term or long-term priorities, so perhaps teenagers trying to find a date for prom will pay more attention to financial security down the line?
You can see that there’s a much more even distribution of responses for second through fourth priorities. Students seem to place relatively equal value on physical attractiveness, sense of humor, and willingness to spend together.
We did acknowledge in the question how hard it might be to put these qualities in order. In all likelihood, most of us will never know for sure what exact combination of factors influences why we are attracted to somebody. And which ones drive us most significantly at any moment in time.
Nevertheless, it’s nice to see that at least when it comes to filling out this survey, most students believe that in order to be happy with another person you have to like what’s beneath the surface.
