DR. WALLACE: Do guys and girls look for the same qualities when considering going out with a member of the opposite sex? My girlfriend's mom told us that she recalls you posted results of your survey a while back and that she was surprised "good looks" was not the top quality teen girls were looking for in teen boys!

I find this a bit hard to swallow, as many of our girlfriends seem to only focus on looks when they are searching for a new boyfriend. — Amongst Shallow Friends, via email

AMONGST SHALLOW FRIENDS: Every few years, I ask our teen readers, "When selecting a date, which of the following choices do you consider most important?" I'm happy to recap the most recent results for you. In this survey, the choices were: intelligence, race, religion, looks, personality, sense of humor, has use of a car and is tobacco-, alcohol- and drug-free.

My teen survey question was answered by thousands of teens of both genders. For the girls, the most important characteristics were not smoking, drinking or taking drugs. Surprisingly, this feature was preferred by a wide margin, as 49% of girls made this No. 1. Next was a good sense of humor (14%), personality (13%), intelligence (10%), same religion (7%), looks (3%), same race (2%) and, finally, has a car (1%).

The males, however, had a different set of values. They chose looks (33%), personality (20%) and good sense of humor (13%) as the top three characteristics, followed by intelligence (11%), same race (6%), not smoking, drinking or taking drugs (5%), and has a car (1 %).

As you can see, teen guys and teen girls (at least those who responded to me) indicated interesting differences when choosing a date. Of course, my survey would be considered rather informal, although nearly every single one of the 50 states was represented in the survey.

HOW UNIQUE AM I?

DR. WALLACE: I'm a left-handed female. Why are so few people left-handed, especially girls? In my whole family, I'm the only lefty. I do absolutely everything with my left hand, too! I write, eat, brush my teeth, comb my hair and even use a baseball bat and glove from the left-hand position.

Yes, I've seen a few other kids at school who are also left-handed, but we are still overwhelmed in numbers by the righties.

Is my uniqueness here a blessing or a curse? I do feel a bit self-conscious around my family members when I start to do something left-handed and they give me a look that alternates between curiosity and confusion. — Lonely Lefty, via email

LONELY LEFTY: Left-handed people are highly adaptable. Nearly all instruments and machines have been built by and for right-handed people. This means left-handers have to adapt throughout their whole entire lives. This often results in good resourcefulness and the innate ability to solve problems quickly and efficiently.

Being left-handed is more common in twins. One study showed that 21% of twins are left-handed, a number much higher than is usually found in the population at large.

I'd say that your left-handedness is a blessing. You're a bit more unique, and you are able to do everything else your family does in your own special way!

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: athree23 at Pixabay