Romantic initiation strategies: Men to a greater degree than women would use direct approaches & women would use indirect ones (having a friend introduce them, waiting for the other to do something)

Men and women’s plans for romantic initiation strategies across four settings. Susan Sprecher, Stanislav Treger, Nicole Landa. Current Psychology, May 20 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-019-00298-7

Abstract: This study, with a sample (N = 735) of both university students and non-student adults, examined the various strategies that men and women believe they would use to initiate romantic contact with an attractive other in four different settings: social gathering, bar/nightclub, class/workplace, and Facebook. We found that men to a greater degree than women reported they would use direct approaches (e.g., initiate a conversation) and women to a greater degree than men reported they would use the indirect strategy of having a friend introduce them and the passive strategy of waiting for the other to do something. Men’s greater expectation of being direct in relationship initiation (relative to women) was found across the settings. Shyness was associated with the lower likelihood of expecting to be direct in initiation strategies, although the strength of the association was stronger for men than for women and depended on both the particular initiation strategy and the setting. The findings offer insights into the dynamics of relationship development and how plans for initiation strategies may differ for men and women, including the differential influence of shyness on romantic initiation for men and women.

Keywords: Relationship initiation strategies Relationship initiation Gender differences Shyness