Age, Wealth and Looks Not the Key to Finding Love in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia, November 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Love is blind to age, income and religion, according to new research by eHarmony dating website, with more Australians placing importance on friendship, chemistry and how they feel around their partner.

We may debate and cringe with friends over physical features and personal habits, but they ultimately don't rate highly when it comes to matters of the heart.

On a scale of importance, eHarmony's 790,000 members collectively rank "friendship between my partner and I" as a 6.4 out of 7 - the highest of any quality or trait. More women (92%) than men (82%) consider friendship important.

"This is really inspiring because it shows we're seeking true compatibility and personal connections, and that despite what we may think and agonise over, habits and physical traits really don't account for much when it comes to finding a long term partner," says eHarmony spokesperson, Sarah Mason.

eHarmony's research shows Australians don't completely ignore physical attributes like sexual compatibility, but ultimately it's not in the top ten. Those aged 35-49 place the most importance on this quality followed closely by those over 50.

"Men still tend to rank physical appearance and intimacy higher than women, but overall less than half of all respondents think physical appearance is an important quality in their partner," Mason continued.

For women, communication is very important with a partner's ability to do so ranked by 85% of women as important and only 67% of men - one of the largest gender divides from the research.

Men are also much more likely to look beyond an age gap for the right partner - a match here is important to 1 in 5 women but only 1 in every 10 men.

Mason says technology has made it easier for people to find others that they can connect with, even over great distances.

"Technology allows for all forms of communication to more people than ever before. This means you can not only increase your chances of finding your ideal partner, but you can take it at a pace that you feel comfortable with."

Note to editors:  further information and stats attached at the end of this release, including gender and state-based breakdowns.

About eHarmony

California-based eHarmony, Inc. (http://www.eharmony.com) was founded in 2000 and is a pioneer in using relationship science to match singles seeking long-term relationships. Its service, available in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Brazil, presents users with compatible matches based on key dimensions of compatibility that are predictive of highly successful long-term relationships.

About this research

This research is based on information collected from over 790,000 eHarmony members aged 18 or above. Members were invited to fill in a profile questionnaire, which collects data about themselves and what they are looking for in an ideal relationship, upon registering with eHarmony. Most data was collected on a 7 point importance scale, where 1=not at all important and 7=very important. Ratings of 1 to 3 were grouped as 'not important', 4 to 5 as 'neutral', and 6 to 7 as 'important'.

Additional facts and figures

 

Top 10 MOST important qualities when looking for love

1. Friendship
2. Chemistry
3. Enjoying the way I feel around my partner
4. Being open about how he/she feels towards me
5. Personality
6. Kindness
7. Romantic attraction
8. Being able to talk about personal problems
9. Being able to discuss how I feel about him/her
10. Physical closeness

10 LEAST important qualities when looking for love

1. My partner's beliefs
2. The amount they smoke
3. Age
4. The amount they drink
5. Ethnicity
6. Height
7. Education
8. Income
9. Religion
10. Knowing they are to blame when things go wrong

Top 5 values held by MEN

1. Friendship
2. Chemistry
3. Being open about how she feels towards me
4. Enjoying the way I feel around my partner
5. Physical closeness

Top 5 values held by WOMEN

1. Friendship
2. Chemistry
3. Enjoying the way I feel around my partner
4. Kindness
5. Personality

Top 5 qualities by age

18-24 year olds:

1. Enjoying the way I feel around my partner
2. The friendship between my partner and I
3. The chemistry between my partner and I
4. My partner's personality
5. Having my partner be open with me about how he / she feels towards me

25-34 year olds:

1. The friendship between my partner and I
2. The chemistry between my partner and I
3. Enjoying the way I feel around my partner
4. My partner's personality
5. Having my partner be open with me about how he / she feels towards me

35-49 year olds:

1. The friendship between my partner and I
2. The chemistry between my partner and I
3. Enjoying the way I feel around my partner
4. Having my partner be open with me about how he / she feels towards me
5. My partner's personality

50 and over:

1. The friendship between my partner and I
2. The chemistry between my partner and I
3. Having my partner be open with me about how he / she feels towards me
4. Enjoying the way I feel around my partner
5. My partner's kindness

Compared with the national average, New South Wales singles are the most concerned with...

• Drinking - 22% rated the amount a potential partner drinks as important

• Income - 10% rated this as important

• Religion - 12% rated this as important

Compared with the national average Victorian singles are most preoccupied with...

• Sex appeal - 60% rated 'My partner's sex appeal' as important

• Physical appearance - 45% rated this as important; same as those in WA

Compared with the rest of Australia, singles in Queensland placed most importance on...

• Forgiveness - 59% rated 'Knowing that my partner will always forgive me if I make a mistake' as important

• Chemistry - 86% rated this as important

Compared with the rest of the nation, West Australian single has the highest proportion of respondents placing importance on...

• Disclosure - 71% rated 'being able to tell my partner everything about myself' as important - same as those in Queensland

• Physical appearance - 45% rated this as important; same as with Victoria

• Chemistry - 86% view this as important; as with those in Queensland

Singles in the ACT are least concerned with...

• Quality time - 'Being able to spend as much time as possible with my partner' was only important to 35% of respondents

• Declarations of love - 'Doing special things to let my partner know how important he/she is to me' is important to 64% of singles in the ACT

Tasmanian singles are least concerned with...

• Sex appeal - 53% rate this as important

• Sexual compatibility - which is important to only 68%

• Their partner's beliefs - 38% rate this as important

Singles in the Northern Territory are not bothered about...

• Smoking - 29% indicated that the amount a potential partner smokes is important

• Disclosure - 'Being able to tell my partner everything about myself' is important to 66%

• Physical appearance - only important to 38% of respondents in the territory