Stability and change of individual differences in ideal partner preferences over 13 years

Ideal partner preferences for traits in a partner are said to be stable cognitive constructs. However, longitudinal studies investigating the same participants’ ideals repeatedly have so far been limited to relatively short retest intervals of maximum three years. Here, we investigate stability and change of ideals across 13 years and participants’ insight into how ideals have changed. 204 participants (M = 46.2 years, SD = 7.4, 104 women) reported their ideals at two time points. We found a mean rank-order stability of r = .42 and an overall profile stability of r = .73 (distinctive r = .53). Some ideals changed over time, e.g. increased for status-resources, in relation to age and parenthood. We found some, but varying insight into how ideals had changed (mean r = .20). Results support the idea of ideals being stable cognitive constructs, but suggest some variability related to demands of different life stages.