SWS poll: 4 of 5 Pinoys prefer ‘brains than body’

MANILA, Philippines — Brains over brawn.

This was what copywriter Louise Cruz, 22, said she preferred to see more in a potential partner.

“Intellect is attractive to me,” she said. “The probability that I can make real connection is higher if I know more about a person’s set of values and principles instead of just physical attributes.”

According to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), majority of Filipinos think like Cruz.

An SWS survey conducted Dec. 13 to 16, 2019, showed that 81 percent of respondents were more attracted to a person’s intelligence than body.

The remaining 19 percent said “the reverse,” SWS said.

Higher among women

Attraction to a person’s intelligence was higher among women at 83 percent, compared with 78 percent among men.

Among women who prefer brains over body, the highest proportion, at 89 percent, was among women with live-in partners, followed by single women at 82 percent and married women at 81 percent.

Among men who prefer brains over body, the proportion “hardly varies…by civil status, ranging from 77 to 79 percent,” SWS said.

Health, love, money

SWS also found majority of adults saying they would choose good health over love and money if they were to pick “only one of the following” — with 70 percent choosing health, 23 percent, love, and 7 percent, money.

The choice of health over love and money was higher among women at 72 percent, compared with 67 percent among men.

Those who prefer love, meanwhile, were highest among married men at 30 percent and women with live-in partners at 23 percent.

“Those who prefer money are highest among single men (8%) and single women (14%),” the poll said.

Love life

More than half of Filipinos or 54 percent said they were “very happy” with their love life — up from 51 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 — while 32 percent of adults said “it could be happier,” down from 36 percent.

The percentage of those who “do not have a love life” barely changed at 14 percent, from 13 percent.

“Happiness with love life is highest among men and [among] those who are married,” SWS said. The poll also pointed out that, “Married men and married women…have a happier love life compared to their single and…live-in partner counterparts.”

Among men, the proportion of respondents who reported a “very happy” love life was highest among those who are married at 72%, followed by those with live-in partners at 64%, and those who are single at 26%.

“Among women, those with very happy love life are also highest among those who are married at 58%, followed by those with live-in partner at 51%, and those who are single at 26%,” the poll said. The highest proportion of respondents who said their love life could be happier was among men with live-in partners at 36%, and women with live-in partners at 48%.

“Those who say they have no love life are highest among single men at 57% and single women at 50%,” SWS said.

The noncommissioned survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, with sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% each for the said areas. —INQUIRER RESEARCH