Do you know what seduced you, (or can seduce you) with a potential partner? His humor? His personality? Of course, this counts. But according to a double study published this July, reality is a little more … “bling-bling”. The most enclosed people to find love, would also be those with safer income. Money would thus be the first factor taken into account when you want to meet love.
Money and love: a stronger bond than you think
Conducted by Canadian researchers, the study published in Journal of Marriage and Family Bases on two longitudinal surveys carried out in the United States and Germany. The objective: to observe how revenues influence the provision of singles to enter into relationship. And the results are clear: the higher the income, the more the probability of feeling ready to experience a relationship increases.
In the American study, the emphasis was put on 25-35 year olds, an age group deemed particularly active in terms of love. Participants with better income declared more often than it was the right time to find a partner. Six months to a year later, these same people were also more likely to be in a relationship.
In Germany, the results are similar, although the effect is a little more pronounced in men than in women – a difference that researchers, however, consider not significant.
Stability that reassures more than it seduces
Faced with these results, psychologist Amélie Boukhobza, contacted by True Medical expresses a reaction tinged with realism: “It’s a little sad, I thought it was charm, or humor … But no: it’s money.”
Before qualifying:
“Is it disappointing? A little. But in substance, it is not so surprising. It is not necessarily a matter of venality. Money, in the collective imagination, it is often associated with stability, with the capacity to project oneself, to build something. Unconsciously, it reassures.”
According to her, we imagine that a person at ease financially will be able to manage the unforeseen events, take care of themselves-and therefore, potentially, take care of us. “”It is a form of safety that exceeds material comfort. A promise of consistency. Sometimes even maturity. And in an unstable world, it matters. “
What really matters: stability, not sudden wealth
Because, more than the amount of income or the figure on the bank account, it is financial stability that seems to make the difference. Bring more money than before had only a marginal impact on the feeling of romantic preparation. What really matters is the perception of a stable material future.
Professor Geoff Macdonald, specialist in relational psychology at the University of Toronto, explains so:“Young people do rational calculations in unstable economic conditions. They know they will not be able to fully enjoy a relationship if they work 80 hours per week or if they do not know where they will live the following year.”
For her part, Professor Johanna Peetz, co-author and expert in financial behavior, adds that money is not in itself a factor of attraction, but that it allows to meet basic needs. Once these needs met, others like love and privacy take up more space.
Be careful not to confuse everything
But Amélie Boukhobza calls for caution in the face of certain hasty interpretations:
“To have the means is not to have generosity. To be financially stable is not always to be emotionally stable. And to love, really to love is to be bought. The link is located elsewhere …”
The researchers themselves emphasize that if their study highlights a link between wealth and relational intentions, it does not prove that money is the direct origin of romantic relationships. Many other factors – personality, life objectives, cultural values – come into play in “romantic preparation”. And still happy.
They also note that the role of income in relational interest is similar in men and women, questioning certain stereotypes according to which money would weigh more in the balance on the male side.
In the end, if you are looking for a soul mate, do not stop cultivating what makes your charm and that makes you unique. But if you also know how to manage your accounts cautiously, know that it is a plus.