Abstract

Men tend to establish minimum standards that are similar to those of women for high investment relationships (e.g., marriage) but set lower standards for rela- tionships requiring less investment (e.g., a one-night stand). The purpose of the present study was to examine whether self-esteem moderates these gender differences in minimum standards for romantic relationships. This was accomplished by conducting a cross-sectional study with under- graduate participants (57 men and 124 women) from the southern region of the United States. Participants completed a self-esteem measure and reported their minimum stand- ards for partners across various levels of relational involvement. As predicted, high self-esteem was associated with higher standards for low investment relationships among women but lower standards among men.