Contributed by: ElyseRomano on Wednesday, October 31 2012 @ 10:44 am
Last modified on
You have your own personal list of what you can do without and what you can't deal with in a relationship...but have you ever wondered how it compares to other daters' lists?
eHarmony collected data from over 700,000 singles to reveal the top 10 qualities people value most in a lover and the 10 qualities that are least important when searching for your match.
The overwhelming majority voted friendship into the top spot on the must-haves list (92% for women and 82% for men). No surprise there...as much as we are all occasionally guilty of being blinded by a nice smile or a pretty pair of eyes, it's no secret that a strong friendship is at the root of every enduring relationship.
Good chemistry was rated the second most important trait in a mate, followed by "Enjoying the way my partner makes me feel." Interestingly, "physical closeness" made it into the top 10 but "sexual compatibility" did not - with one notable exception. Sexual compatibility was more important for respondents aged between 35 and 39. Perhaps we reach our sexual peak later than we think we do?
"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," said eHarmony's Sarah Mason.
Other matters that seemed as though they should be important turned out to be trivial. A person's smoking and drinking habits, age, personal beliefs, and education proved to be relatively insignificant when looking for a potential partner.
In order, eHarmony found that the 10 most important qualities when looking for love are:
And then 10 least important qualities are:
"(These results show) we're seeking true compatibility and personal connections," explained Sarah Mason, "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."
To find out more about the dating service which calculated the top 10 qualities people value most, please read our eHarmony review.