Association between perceptions of mental illness and reduced mate value, as well as an association between self-reported mental illness and a strong tendency to select mates with mental illness

Boysen, G. A. (2020). Mental illness and mate value: Evidence for reduced mate value among romantic partners perceived as having mental illness. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, Dec 2020. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000255

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1335117374559809536

Abstract: Evolutionary psychology predicts that people with mental illness should have reduced value as mates. Nonetheless, people with mental illness successfully find mates and pass on their genes. The current research explored people’s evaluations of real-world dating and romantic partners who they perceive as having mental illness to better understand the associated mate value. Study 1 (N = 193) examined participants’ ratings of their romantic partners’ desirable traits. Romantic partners perceived as having a mental illness received lower ratings of desirability than did romantic partners without mental illness. Study 2 (N = 271) demonstrated that romantic partners perceived as having mental illness also received lower ratings on desirable traits when compared with participants’ last partner without mental illness. Study 3 (N = 270) replicated the result of Study 2 by using a rating of holistic mate quality rather than traits. In Study 4 (N = 305), participants rated the holistic value of their current partner, as well as their commitment to that partner. Current partners perceived as having mental illness received lower ratings of value when controlling for commitment. In addition to these findings, across all 4 studies, there was a large and consistent effect of assortative mating such that participants with a self-reported history of mental illness also reported having romantic partners with mental illness. Overall, the results suggest an association between perceptions of mental illness and reduced mate value, as well as an association between self-reported mental illness and the tendency to select mates with mental illness.