What does a man really want?

The modern man is a combination on the one hand, "old-school" values such as homer, loyalty and hard work and, on the other hand, a more contemporary set of beliefs about gender roles at a time when they are changing both at home and on the job, according to a poll.

AskMen's Great Male Survey polled over 87,000 men in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom on a wide variety of lifestyle-related issues

And it revealed that today's men see a happy family as the ultimate status symbol, ahead of material possessions such as luxury cars and houses.

In fact, 78 percent of men surveyed said that marriage potential was either "very" or "somewhat" important when deciding on whom to date.

A similarly resounding 67 percent of men claim that marriage is a necessary institution and one in which they will participate.

In addition, an unequivocal 94 percent of men claim to feel entirely at ease in a relationship with a woman who earns more than they do.

Similarly, a whopping 64 percent of men claimed to cook at home and to enjoy doing so (only a paltry 5 percent claimed that cooking is "women's work").

The findings suggest that notions of what is male-appropriate and what is not are changing as traditional patterns of marital and family life change. However, our results show that not everything about modern masculinity is quite so flexible.

The survey revealed that more than three-quarters would never cheat on their wives or girlfriends and they expect the same in return, with loyalty the most important quality in a potential partner.

Thirty one percent of men feel that loyalty is the most important trait in a girlfriend or wife, easily beating out "sense of humor" (25 percent), "sense of caring" (24 percent) and "intelligence" (20 percent).

The importance of honour can be seen in a range of work-related contexts-56 percent of our respondents expressed a desire for a high level of professionalism in their colleagues so that they might be "inspired to act similarly" while only 6 percent expressed a desire for the reverse so that they might be made to "look better."

When asked whether they make an effort to be romantic with their partners, a compelling 78 percent of the sample claimed to do so either "very often" or "somewhat often."

Similarly, when asked what motivates them to make this effort, a persuasive 76 percent answered "feeling close to my partner," beating out "the possibility of sex" (16 percent) by a wide margin.

These findings suggest that men are deeply invested in emotional intimacy and that they work at cultivating it on a relatively regular basis.

AskMen.com editor Jamie Watt said the Australian man was "the best of both worlds" - forward thinking but traditionally chivalrous.

"Being an Australian man in 2010 means being an open-minded, fashion conscious, loving family man and an all-round top bloke," Askmen.com quoted him as saying.