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Many researchers have attempted to discover what types of men women consider most desirable for relationship partners. This study investigated university women's (N = 165) perceptions of "nice guys," specifically whether women perceived nice guys to be more or less sexually successful than guys who are considered not nice. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were used. The qualitative analysis was useful in understanding women's differing interpretations of the nice guy label. More than one half of the women agreed that nice guys have fewer sexual partners. However, more than one half also reported a preference for a nice guy over a bad boy as a date. As hypothesized, women who placed a lesser emphasis on the importance of sex, who had fewer sexual partners, and who were less accepting of men who had many sexual partners were more likely to choose the nice guy as a dating partner. The findings indicate that nice guys are likely to have fewer sexual partners but are more desired for committed relationships.

Although there has been considerable research about self-disclosure, there has been a lack of research regarding disclosure of sexual topics. In order to increase our understanding of sexual self-disclosure (SSD), a scale was developed to measure SSD, and 10 variables were tested as predictors of SSD. The subjects were 203 unmarried university females aged 18-22. SSD was measured separately for each of the target groups of mother, father, close friend, and dating partner. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed separately for virgin and non-virgin subjects. The one variable which was significant for each of the target groups in each of the analyses was sexual comfort level of the target person. The variables of sex guilt and target person's sexual attitudes were significant for disclosure to each of the target groups among the nonvirgin subjects but to only some of the target groups among the virgin subjects. The remaining seven predictor variables were significant for at least one of the target groups. In the multiple regression models, the proportion of variance explained ranged from 28% to 58%. The results indicate the value of controlling for both target group and virginity status when analyzing the relationship of predictor variables to SSD.