The three rings of marriage are the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering
In the same way that people do not always leave 15% of their bill as a tip (even though this is the norm) but rather adjust it up or down as a function of other factors (e.g., service quality), one would expect that the price paid for an engagement ring might too be linked to several extraneous variables.
Lee Cronk and Bria Dunham published a paper recently in Human Nature wherein they sought to explore this exact issue. They sent out a short survey to 1,000 married couples and asked several questions including the income and age of each member of the couple, as well as how much was spent on the engagement ring. (…)
They found that both men’s and women’s incomes were positively correlated to the amount spent on an engagement ring. (…). Furthermore, the authors uncovered a negative correlation between the amount spent on a ring and the bride’s age. In other words, the younger the bride, the larger the expenditure.
illustration { Kristian Hammerstad }
