Opposite-Sex Ideal in the U.S.A. and Mexico as Perceived by Young Adolescents

In this cross-cultural study, 188 9th-grade girls and boys from the U.S.A. and Mexico ranked 10 characteristics of the opposite sex ideal person, and drew pictures of the ideal person engaged in an activity. These young adolescents showed significant agreement about the characteristics of the ideal man and woman; however, there were important gender and cross-cultural differences. Boys emphasized physical characteristics more so than girls. As compared to U.S.A. adolescents, Mexican adolescents more highly valued liking children, helping others, high intelligence, and inner qualities such as goodness and honesty in the opposite sex ideal. U.S.A. adolescents gave higher rankings to having a lot of money and being fun, popular, good looking, and sexy; they drew the ideal person as more physically mature, and involved in a less sex-stereotyped activity than did Mexicans.