Another Look at the Theory of Complementary Needs in Mate-Selection

Following the publication of Edwards' Personal Preference Schedule there came a spate of studies purporting to test the theory of complementary needs in mate-selection. In the author's judgment none of these studies has come close to replicating the original test, and in the absence of any replication the empirical status of the theory remains undetermined. Various critics have pointed to weaknesses in the theory. Perhaps the gravest of these is one remarked by Rosow that the theory lacks a principle of specification as to which needs should intercorrelate and whether positively or negatively under type II complementariness. Although not in the context of mate-selection, Bermann's study of the stability of dyads is seen as constituting a development of the theory in general and with particular respect to the foregoing criticism.