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 <Sommer, 2007>
Driven by evolved principles that
increase likelihood of
reproductive success and actual
success depends on multiple
factors

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
an individual's choice for a mate

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
woman who has similar traits of his mother.

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 womans physical
attractiveness

In Asian countries, both men and

women are marrying later than
they did in the past

MATE SELECTION
AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Warfare, migration, and random historical
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 ones collective
standing
select suitable partners from ones own socioeconomic 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
persons 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 parents supervision
Romantic love as basis for marriage

PHILIPPINE SETTING:
MATE SELECTION ISSUES
Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion
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
in postmodern society