A socioecological approach to online dating goals and self-presentational strategies in North American and Chinese cultures

In this study, a content analysis investigating the relationship goals and self-presentational strategies on online daters’ personal advertisements from both North America (n = 300) and Hong Kong China (n = 300) was conducted. Significant differences between the two cultures were found by adopting a socio-ecological approach. Great cross-cultural differences were found. Compared with Chinese, the North American were more likely to seek for an open and casual relationship, namely sexual interests and friendship, self-improvement and showing own uniqueness. In contrast, Chinese were more likely to initiate a committed relationship such as soulmate and romantic activities, express loneliness and resistant to fake accounts more frequent than the North American were. The North American adopted a self-enhancement strategy where the Chinese use a more holistic strategy to describe themselves. Besides, drawing from an evolutionary perspective, traditional gender differences and other differences in relationship goals and self-presentational strategies were found. The implications and limitations of considering the explanation power of relational mobility on behaviors are discussed