So ~3x more people prefer polyamory than are actually engaged in it...
I wonder, if you split out poly/mono preference and number of partners, whether the number who prefer poly but have <2 partners would be significantly different from the number who prefer mono but have <1 partner.
Now that I’ve wondered this out loud, I feel like I should have just asked a computer.
I was about to reply the same thing. The quoted statement doesn’t sound particularly more surprising than “Most people prefer to be in a relationship, but only a fraction of those are actually engaged in one”.
Would it be more surprising to find people that prefer poly relationships, but only have one partner and aren’t looking for more, than to find people that prefer mono relationships, but have no partners and aren’t looking for any?
Among those with firm mono/poly preferences, there are 15% of the former (24% if we also include people that prefer poly, have no partners, and aren’t looking for more) and 14% of the latter.
Oh, I forgot to answer your actual question. Slightly over 2⁄3 of people that prefer poly have 0 or 1 partners.
Edit: Although I guess this much was evident from the data if we assume that people that prefer mono won’t have 2 or more partners. I guess the group that doesn’t have a firm mono/poly preference (which I ignored entirely) could confuse things a bit.
I wonder, if you split out poly/mono preference and number of partners, whether the number who prefer poly but have <2 partners would be significantly different from the number who prefer mono but have <1 partner.
Now that I’ve wondered this out loud, I feel like I should have just asked a computer.
I was about to reply the same thing. The quoted statement doesn’t sound particularly more surprising than “Most people prefer to be in a relationship, but only a fraction of those are actually engaged in one”.
Would it be more surprising to find people that prefer poly relationships, but only have one partner and aren’t looking for more, than to find people that prefer mono relationships, but have no partners and aren’t looking for any?
Among those with firm mono/poly preferences, there are 15% of the former (24% if we also include people that prefer poly, have no partners, and aren’t looking for more) and 14% of the latter.
Also, roughly 2⁄7 of people that prefer poly are single, while roughly 3⁄7 of people that prefer mono are.
Thanks, computer!
Oh, I forgot to answer your actual question. Slightly over 2⁄3 of people that prefer poly have 0 or 1 partners.
Edit: Although I guess this much was evident from the data if we assume that people that prefer mono won’t have 2 or more partners. I guess the group that doesn’t have a firm mono/poly preference (which I ignored entirely) could confuse things a bit.
So, people that prefer mono are more likely to have their preferred number of partners, but people who prefer poly have more partners.
Not by that much, but yes, I suppose a tad more.
Thanks for clearing this up.