Two studies examined how the characteristics of a person's current romantic partner and opposite-sex friends can predict the sexual interest in the opposite-sex friend of men and women. The studies largely provide support for the hypothesis of mating activation.
Attraction to Opposite-Sex Friends May Be Determined by Evolution
Friends from the opposite sex can be a way of seeking either intimate short-term or long-term relationships. A recent study suggests that attraction may be an evolutionary adaptive strategy to maintain opposite-sex friendships for potential reproductive success.
The authors of the study Aleksandra Szmkow and Natalia Frankowska wrote that if natural selection played a role in shaping psychological mechanisms motivating individuals to seek friendships, it would be logical to expect a strategic search for specific friends, which should be different between men and women, reports PsyPost.
Various studies have suggested that forming opposite-sex friendships can be a way of gaining short-term sexual access, protection, long-term mates, and, at times, backup mates.
Both men and women may be inclined to seek opposite-sex friends for the sole purpose of forming friendships. At the same time, under certain circumstances, saif friendships may be to find either short-term or long-term mates. The hypothesis on backup mates posits that cultivating potential replacement mates could effectively solve various adaptive problems.
In ancestral environments, lacking backup mates could have placed women in jeopardy of not being able to protect themselves na provide for their children. Hence, opposite-sex friends may have served as mate insurance.
Prior researchers have observed parallels between preferences in opposite-sex friends and mates, with men prioritizing physical attractiveness in friends and women prioritizing physical protection and economic resources. However, the said preferences are flexible, which indicates their adaptive capacity. Likewise, sexual interest in a person's opposite-sex friend may be a form of adaptive response to cues like personal qualities, environmental conditions and as a means for solving adaptive problems.
Studying Opposite-Sex Preferences in Men and Women
In the study published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, titled "Moderators of Sexual Interest in Opposite-sex Friends," one of the analyses included 146 cross-sex pairs of friends committed in heterosexual relationships. The study aimed to analyze the sexual attraction toward the participant's opposite-sex friend. Participants were asked to visualize their opposite-sex friends and provide ratings for cognitive, behavioral, and affective items on a scale of one to seven. Predictive variables included the attractiveness, resources, and support given by the participant's current partner's opposite-sex friend.
Likewise, satisfaction towards romantic relationships, length of friendship, and romantic relationships were also measured.
A second study sought to provide additional support for the hypothesis of mating activation, specifically the moderating role of a current partner's qualities and the opposite-sex friend's qualities in shaping a person's sexual interest in their opposite-sex friends.
Results of the study showed support for the hypothesis. Stating that the physical attractiveness of a person's opposite-sex friend can positively predict the sexual interest of the friend.
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