triple join asking for trouble?

Model.scoped_by_body_type_id ( event.body_type_ids ).scoped_by_skin_color_id ( event.skin_color_ids ).find( :all,       :conditions => ['weight_pounds <= ? AND total_height_inches >= ? AND minimum_pay <= ? AND job_types.id = ? AND regions.id = ? AND languages.id in (?)',         event.maximum_weight_in_pounds,         event.total_minimum_height_inches,         event.payment_per_head,         event.job_type_id,         event.region_id,         event.language_ids ],       :joins => [:job_types, :regions, :languages])

Is this triple join asking for trouble? I mean is my server going to hate me? language, region and job_types are going to have less than 10 row entries, but job_type_preferences, language_preferences and region_preferences will scale linearly with the number of users....

  Model Load (0.7ms) SELECT `models`.* FROM `models` INNER JOIN `job_type_preferences` ON (`models`.`id` = `job_type_preferences`.`model_id`) INNER JOIN `job_types` ON (`job_types`.`id` = `job_type_preferences`.`job_type_id`) INNER JOIN `region_preferences` ON (`models`.`id` = `region_preferences`.`model_id`) INNER JOIN `regions` ON (`regions`.`id` = `region_preferences`.`region_id`) INNER JOIN `language_preferences` ON (`models`.`id` = `language_preferences`.`model_id`) INNER JOIN `languages` ON (`languages`.`id` = `language_preferences`.`language_id`) WHERE (weight_pounds <= NULL AND total_height_inches >= 60 AND minimum_pay <= 2000 AND job_types.id = 4 AND regions.id = 1 AND languages.id in (NULL)) AND ((`models`.`body_type_id` IN (4) AND `models`.`skin_color_id` IN (4)))

Is this triple join asking for trouble? I mean is my server going to hate me? language, region and job_types are going to have less than 10 row entries, but job_type_preferences, language_preferences and region_preferences will scale linearly with the number of users....

In the absence of all other things they fewer joins the better but if they're needed to do the job then that's ok. Just be sure that you have indexes on those columns you join on and keep an eye on the explain output for that query.

Fred