Romantic Commitment and the Perceived Availability of Opposite‐Sex Persons: On Loving the One You're With1

Abstract

This article reports a study that examined whether perceptions of the availability of members of the opposite sex are related to commitment to romantic relationships among students at two colleges. Analyses of students' anonymous questionnaire responses reveal that students who perceived that there were relatively few members of the opposite sex on their college's campus were more committed to their romantic relationship, considered their relationship to be more attractive, and invested more in it compared with other students. These relations involving the perceived opposite‐sex ratio did not vary as a function of the length of the romantic involvement or the students' gender, race, or college. The perceived opposite‐sex ratio was significantly related to the actual opposite‐sex ratio, but the latter was not significantly related to commitment, investments, or perceived attractiveness of the relationship. Considering the sample as a whole, the students overestimated the availability of opposite‐sex persons. It is concluded that perceptions of the availability of persons of the opposite sex may affect the dynamics of relationships between men and women. Implications of the findings for social exchange theories are discussed.