Men’s mate retention varies with men’s personality and their partner’s personality

• We examined the relationship between men’s mate retention and personality.
• We found a negative relationship between men’s Emotional Stability and men’s mate retention.
• Also found a positive relationship between men’s Agreeableness and men’s benefit-provisioning.

Mate retention is the recurrent adaptive problem of retaining a mate in a relationship. Humans may have evolved mechanisms which motivate behavior in response to this problem. We examined the relationship between men’s mate retention and men’s and their partner’s personality in studies of 467 men and 565 women in committed relationships. Participants reported on their own or their partner’s mate retention and both their own and their partner’s personality. Results indicate a negative relationship between men’s Emotional Stability and men’s mate retention and a positive relationship between men’s Agreeableness and men’s benefit-provisioning mate retention. Discussion addresses limitations and directions for future research addressing the links between personality and mate retention.