Hunt: Matrimonial Views of Students 



17 



would strive, health and financial re- 

 sources permitting. 



It is gratifying to know that the 

 childless family does not find favor 

 among the women students of the 

 University of Mississippi. On the 

 contrary, their views at present will 

 doubtless influence a large part of them 

 to marry and become the mothers of 

 families of several children each. 



The results of question 5 are shown 

 in Table I. The left column gives the 

 characteristics of the prospective hus- 

 band, and the column at the right 

 shows the average of all the ratings for 

 each characteristic. The answers of 

 fifty women were sufficiently complete 

 to be used in making this table. 



Table I 



Characteristic 



Average 

 rating 



Sex purity 1 . 7 



Honesty 4.5 



Disposition 4.4 



Health 5 . 6 



Natural mental ability 7.3 



Education 8.0 



Abstinence from liquor 8.5 



Abstinence from drugs 9 . 



Ambition 9.2 



Interest in religion 10.0 



Business ability 10.3 



Personal neatness 10.3 



Willingness to have family 13.3 



Mutual intellectual interests 13.5 



Family connections 14.3 



Prominence 15.6 



Social ability 16.6 



Good looks 16.9 



Abstinence from tobacco 17.8 



Artistic ability 18.5 



Fondness for sports 18.6 



Wealth 19.5 



Native state or section 22.0 



Attitude on woman suffrage 22 . 1 



"Sex purity" receives first place with 

 a rating of 1.7. Seventy -four per cent 

 of the women graded this "1." The 

 writer should have used the term 

 "chastity" to express his intent in- 

 stead of "sex purity," for it was found 

 after the data had been tabulated that 

 some of the women who filled out the 

 questionnaire had in mind freedom 

 from venereal infection rather than 

 chastity. A woman student of mine 

 questioned on this point thirty-two of 

 the women who sent in the question- 

 naire. Eighteen of them had inter- 



preted "sex purity" as freedom from 

 venereal disease, fourteen took it to 

 mean chastity. All informed her, how- 

 ever, that they regarded male chastity 

 and freedom from venereal infection 

 as being of equal importance. Doubt- 

 less chastity holds a very high place in 

 the minds of these women, though it is 

 impossible to assign it to a definite 

 place in this series. 



"Honesty" and "disposition" are 

 next on the list and are of about equal 

 rank. "Honesty" received four per 

 cent of the "1" ratings, and "disposi- 

 tion" two per cent. If morality is to a 

 large extent inheritable (Woods: See 

 footnote 9) the high grading of "hon- 

 esty" is eugenically fortunate. 



"Health" and "natural mental abil- 

 ity" also rank high. "Health" was 

 given six per cent of the "1" ratings, 

 while "natural mental ability" received 

 ten per cent of them. Both are 

 believed to be inheritable. Conse- 

 quently these ratings are eugenic. 



As might be expected "education" 

 holds a high place on the list. It is 

 slightly above "abstinence from 

 liquor." This is interesting in view of 

 the fact that the latter depends partly 

 on the former. 



"Abstinence from drugs" and "am- 

 bition" are rated nearly the same. 



"Interest in religion," "business abil- 

 ity," and "personal neatness" come 

 next. Religious inclinations are graded 

 distinctly below all the moral qualities. 

 May it not be that the students regard 

 religion and theology as synonymous? 



It is unfortunate eugenically that 

 personal neatness ranks so much higher 

 than "willingness to have a family" or 

 "family connections." It is far less 

 important eugenically to keep one's 

 trousers pressed, etc., than to bear 

 children, if one comes of good stock. 

 It is far more important for a young 

 woman to scan a suitor's relatives to 

 form an estimate of his, and his pros- 

 pective children's, quality, than to be 

 particular about his clothes. It has 

 been suggested, however, that most of 

 the students when rating "family 

 connections" had in mind some of the 

 pseudoaristocrats, of no particular eu- 



