Mate Selection

SOCIAL

CHANGE

AND THE

FILIPINO

FAMILY

MATE

SELECTION

MATE SELECTION

• Characteristics and values that

humans utilize in choosing a

mating partner in order to

increase probability of

reproductive success

• Driven by evolved principles that

increase likelihood of

reproductive success and actual

success depends on multiple

THEORIES OF

MATE SELECTION

• GOOD GENES THEORY • FILTER THEORY

• COMPLEMENTARY-NEEDS THEORY

• PARENTAL CHARACTERISTICS THEORY • EXCHANGE THEORY

*** mainly suggest the factors that govern consciously or unconsciously

GOOD GENES THEORY

• Looking for the best

possible candidate for their

offsprings

• ♂ prefer ♀ who are young,

attractive, and

reproductively healthy

• ♀ prefer ♂ with external

ornaments like money and

power

FILTER THEORY

• Asserts that we sift eligible people according

to specific criteria and thus narrow the pool of

potential partners

• HOMOGAMY THEORY

major filtering mechanism

individuals choose life partner who also has the same religion , race, social status & economical status as he or she has

According to Psychologists the more the couple is homogamous, the better is their married life.

HOMOGAMY THEORY

Elements

• PROPINQUITY

individuals often choose to marry a person with whom they are working in office for a long time or studying in same college or staying in same area or locality

meet daily or occasionally & therefore develop some kind of attraction

• PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Looks do matter! Individuals tend to choose partners whose physical attractiveness is similar to their own. Perception of beauty depends on culture.

HOMOGAMY THEORY

Elements

• SOCIAL CLASS

Most marry within their own socio-economic class because they share similar attitudes, values, and lifestyles

• VALUES

Most value dependability, stability, intelligence, sociability, and looks among others

• AGE

individuals tend to choose partners within the same age group

men have tended to marry women slightly

below them in age and education (Bernard 1982)

• ETHNICITY AND RACE • RELIGION

COMPLEMENTARY-NEEDS

THEORY

• the individual seeks out a mate to complement his or her own personality (propounded by Winch)

• Winch suggests that in mate selection the need pattern of each spouse will be complementary

rather than similar to the need pattern of the other spouse.

• The person choose a mate who will fill out the weaknesses in his or her personality.

PARENTAL IMAGE THEORY

• Proposed by Sigmund Freud

• A child develops a deep attachment for the parent of opposite sex.

• Therefore in a partner the youth tends to seek the quality of his opposite sex parent.

• Thus a girl wishes to marry a man who has similar traits of her father & man wants to marry a

EXCHANGE THEORY

• Emphasizes that mate selection is based on assessing who offers the greatest rewards at the lowest cost

MATE SELECTION

AND SOCIAL CHANGE

• Sex differences found in Western society are

found across cultures and time periods

tendency to judge men on the basis of physical strength, social position, and economic worth place more emphasis on a woman’s physical attractiveness

• In Asian countries, both men and

women are marrying later than

MATE SELECTION

AND SOCIAL CHANGE

and geographic variations lead to relatively more available ♀ than ♂ in the pool of

eligible mates

• Surplus of women  later marriage, more divorce, more permissive sexual norms • Surplus of men  more stable

relationships and male willingness to commit to monogamous relationships

PHILIPPINE SETTING:

FAMILY HEALTH

• Culture and Customs

of the Philippines by P.A.Rodell

Filipinos have strong endogamous (within the group) marriage preference.

same town or surrounding area

another family with whom fortunes can be combined to increase one’s collective

standing

select suitable partners from one’s own socio-economic class (rare scenario of rich & poor)

PHILIPPINE SETTING:

FAMILY HEALTH

• Culture and Customs of the Philippines by P.A.Rodell

Religion is a major factor for mate selection Roman Catholic Church & Iglesia Ni Cristo are opposed to marriage to outsider

Muslims need to be converted first

mixed marriage is certain to encounter strong opposition from family and friends

PHILIPPINE SETTING:

FAMILY HEALTH

• Kim and Kim, 1992

physical appearance, personality, affection are the major determinants

findings consistently suggests that men and

women would marry someone of a similar social background and ask their parents for permission to marry

Negative reaction from parents would result in a weakening of the relationship.

Although mates are not chosen directly by the parents, they are chosen with a clear

consciousness of the extent to which the potential spouse would meet the approval of the parents

PHILIPPINE SETTING:

FAMILY HEALTH

• Heaton, Jacobson, and Holland. 1999 • Sweeney. 2007

Personality characteristics, romantic love, physical

attraction, economics, and religion are alleged to be

significant variables in mate selection

Most studies focus on cohabitation and the

motivating factors for having children

PHILIPPINE SETTING:

FAMILY HEALTH

• P. Policarpio and L. Jocano. 1974

rural Filipinos carefully examine

genealogies when choosing friends and possible spouses to assess virtues and

shortcomings because they believed that a person’s hereditary character shows

the traditional Filipino family acknowledges the importance of both consaguineal (blood) and affinal (marriage) ties

PHILIPPINE SETTING:

MATE SELECTION ISSUES

• MAIL-ORDER BRIDE SYSTEM

Filipinas of lower socio-economic class resort to marrying foreigners to be able to alleviate them from poverty life

• INDIVIDUALISTIC TRENDS

Young adults have now more opportunities for leisure and recreation

More chance of interaction with the opposite sex without parent’s supervision

PHILIPPINE SETTING:

MATE SELECTION ISSUES

in the Philippines by S. Singh

Nearly half of all pregnancies in the Philippines is unintended

6 out of 10 Filipino women say they have had experienced an unintended pregnancy at some point in their lives

1/3 of those who experienced an unintended pregnancy resorted to abortion

Decision-making: 43% consulted their partners, 25% consulted family or friends

Higher proportion of unintended

pregnancies and those that lead to abortion in Metro Manila

MATE SELECTION

• Beck and Beck-Gersheim. 1995 • Schoen and Wooldredge. 1989

individual characteristics such as physical attractiveness, romantic

love,

and interpersonal communication will increasingly come to play

important roles in the mate selection process