No photo? Big age gap? Don’t be stupid, cupid -- no wonder nobody’s swiping right.
In a new study led by University of Michigan sociologist Dr. Elizabeth Bruch, researchers present a statistical model that describes the process of mate selection in online dating. The researchers, who looked at 1,855 users of an online dating site, analyzed why cyber singles choose to look at and message certain potential partners. You can read the full study online, but here are some its most interesting -- and obvious -- takeaways:
- Men and women both are about 20 times less likely to browse a profile that doesn’t have a photo.
- Smokers are 10 times less likely to browse the profiles of non-smokers.
- Men almost always prefer to look for women with lower body mass indexes (BMI) than their own.
- Women generally prefer men who are three to four inches (7.6 to 10.2 centimetres) taller than they are.
- Men tend to look up women who are their own age or somewhat younger.
- While 40-year-old women might look at the profiles of younger men, they almost never send them messages.
- A five year age gap matters much more to a 23-year-old than it does to a 53-year-old.
