Bad hygiene, vulgar vocabulary and too much affection among 11 most off-putting flirting tactics, study finds

Men are less likely to be put off by undesirable traits than women

Women are more sensitive to undesirable flirting tactics than men (Getty Images)

Bad hygiene, showing interest in multiple people and vulgar vocabulary are among the top dealbreakers when it comes to flirting, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus set out to identify the actions and characteristics that make potential partners seem less appealing, finding 11 common undesirable traits.

The two-part small-scale study, published in the Personality and Individual Differences journal, surveyed 946 adults.

The first cohort of 212 participants were asked to imagine themselves in a scenario with a potential romantic partner and list behaviours and traits which would leave a bad impression.

A total of 69 behaviours were recorded, including a display of narcissism, lack of humour and bad personal hygiene.

A further 734 adults were then asked to rate the traits based on how undesirable they made a person seem.

The most off-putting behaviours identified were having a slimy approach, bad hygiene, not demonstrating exclusive interest and having different views than them.

This was followed by the use of vulgar vocabulary, a perceived lack of intelligence, narcissism and a bad sense of humour or low self-esteem.

Other traits identified by most participants were excessive displays of affection, like coming too close and touching them without consent, low physical attraction and stinginess.

Researchers found that men were less likely to be put off by every deal breaker compared to women, apart from when it came to physical attractiveness.

Overall, women and older participants were more sensitive to the behaviours than male and younger participants.

The authors of the study suggested this could be a result of women having to carry a larger portion of the parental burden when it comes to raising children, “so they face a higher risk than men if they make a mistake in mate choice”.

“Accordingly, women have evolved to be more selective and risk-averse than men, which is reflected in their higher sensitivity to dealbreakers,” the study said.

Age also had a significant impact on the results, with older participants more affected by undesirable traits than young people.

Researchers suggested that younger people may have “lower standards” as they are more inclined to want more relationship experience with different partners.

“They lower their standards, becoming in effect less sensitive to flirting dealbreakers.

“On the other hand, as people age and they acquire more relationship experience, they become more interested in finding long-term partners, and so they have higher mating standards, and are thus, more sensitive to flirting dealbreakers,” the study said, adding that more research was needed to test this hypothesis.