Partnerwahl und wertewandel - Die veränderung von präferenzen der partnerwahl im wertewandel vom materialismus zum postmaterialismus

The rapid change, which happened in the last decades in developed industrialized societies, is described by Ronald Inglehart (1977, 1989 and 1998) as an evolution from a materialistic a postmaterialistic dimension. Values with materialistic preferences related to periods of existential insecurity change to such with post-materialistic preferences related to periods of existential security in which living seems to be natural and in which post-materialistic values gain more importance. This study investigates whether a similar shift of values can be observed, from a materialistic to a post-materialistic dimension of values, in the area of personal partnerships, specifically concerning the partner selection. To test this assumption a new measuring tool based upon the Inglehart-Index has been developed which allowed recording the data of 525 persons for a cross sectional analysis. The results principally confirm the hypothesis that the preferences in the partner selection have changed from materialistic to post-materialistic values. The results clearly demonstrate as well that the level of education has a significant influence on partner selection preferences.