Within per web site, we accumulated 1,000 users of heterosexual men and you may step 1,000 pages regarding heterosexual female. Users seek profiles via geographic place, age, and gender filter systems.
To ensure a geographical dispersion out-of pages, i chose equivalent variety of profiles regarding five biggest towns and cities as well as urban, suburban, and outlying dating sites kolumbian naiset elements: La, Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, and you can New york. I at random chosen zip rules of all the four section to find pages. In this per zip code, for each gender, i up coming at random picked profiles one of five a long time: very early younger adulthood (old 1831 decades; letter = step 1,000; Yards = , SD = step 3.17), late young adulthood/very early midlife (old 3144 age; n = step 1,000; Yards = , SD = 5.61), later midlife (aged fifty64 age; letter = step 1,000; M = , SD = step 3.99), and you can the elderly (old over 65 decades; letter = step 1,000; Yards = , SD = cuatro.29). We put these types of stratifications in order to guarantee a full age groups of matchmaking profiles from inside the testing. Since the elderly category could need up to thirty years, we addressed many years as the a continuing adjustable in place of because the a good collection variable when you look at the analyses.
Of for every profile, we extracted: gender, decades, ethnicity, therefore the About Myself otherwise Within my Terms and conditions totally free response point. To assure anonymity regarding profile publishers, i did not see additional group recommendations (e.grams., training, religious tastes, income) which will act as identifying guidance. The fresh new testing system is illustrated during the Supplementary Appendix A great .
New decide to try ranged inside the decades away from 18 so you’re able to 95 age. An independent t-attempt shown zero difference between mean decades for females (Yards = , SD = ) and you will guys (Yards = , SD = ). The fresh new breakdown of ethnicity from the shot is 70% White/Caucasian, 11% Black/Ebony, 7% Hispanic/Latino, 2% Far eastern, and you may ten% combined battle/most other.
Profile posts

We utilized the LIWC software to analyze the message of your own pages. This program works out the brand new volume and you can size of specific kinds of terminology within a book file. The fresh LIWC program compares for each and every word-of a text file which have an internal dictionary greater than cuatro,500 terminology allotted to term groups. This research received to your eleven depending LIWC categories: first-people only 1 pronouns, first-person plural pronouns, nearest and dearest, family members, performs, end, money, wellness, sexuality, positive emotion, and you can negative feeling. Desk step one contains analogy terms during the each one of the LIWC category (for additional information regarding such codes, find LIWC, 2007).
We and authored a category of conditions to own attractiveness unavailable during the centered LIWC classes. I used tips to own build off LIWC categories ( Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010) by producing a thorough selection of words away from dictionaries, thesauruses, forms out of earlier look, and terminology made by the analysis cluster. Upcoming, i chosen 25 words most representative from appeal based on physical appearance from inside the thesauruses and you can participant solutions (age.g., adorable, good-appearing, good-looking, hot). This new elegance group are almost entirely not the same as the latest sexual classification, with only that overlapping keyword (sexy). Advice on the elegance classification also are utilized in Desk step 1; for the done range of terms and conditions from the appeal classification, pick Secondary Desk 1 .
Analytical Means
I very first checked-out descriptive statistics to the dimensions of terminology some body of various decades used in its dating pages. We along with generated illustrative figures portraying the most used words.
I following turned to hypothesis analysis having fun with typical least squares regression. The results parameters within data was brand new proportion of words fitting each of the twelve categories regarding LIWC analyses. The new LIWC classes had been the positively skewed as a result of the amount off no thinking (we.e., fellow member failed to use one terms on group). We went for each and every studies that have a rectangular-sources sales (regularly target low-normality into the past education utilising the LIWC; DeAndrea, Shaw & Levine, 2010; Hirsh & Peterson, 2009). The brand new pattern away from results are equivalent just after applying the transformations. Getting easy translation, findings is demonstrated utilising the untransformed LIWC category study. New independent variable are ages, managed given that a continuous adjustable. I as well as incorporated gender.