ArticlePDF Available

Amounts Spent on Engagement Rings Reflect Aspects of Male and Female Mate Quality

Authors:

Abstract and Figures

Previous research has shown that the qualities of nuptial gifts among nonhumans and marriage-related property transfers in human societies such as bridewealth and dowry covary with aspects of mate quality. This article explores this issue for another type of marriage-related property transfer: engagement rings. We obtained data on engagement ring costs and other variables through a mail survey sent to recently married individuals living in the American Midwest. This article focuses on survey responses regarding rings that were purchased by men acting alone and using only their own funds who then presented the rings while making surprise proposals of marriage (n = 127). Men marrying younger women spent more on rings, as did men who earned more money and whose fiancées earned more money. These findings suggest that the amounts spent on engagement rings, like bridewealth and dowry payments in other societies, reflect aspects of both male and female mate quality.
Content may be subject to copyright.
Amounts Spent on Engagement Rings Reflect Aspects
of Male and Female Mate Quality
Lee Cronk &Bria Dunham
Published online: 27 September 2007
#Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract Previous research has shown that the qualities of nuptial gifts among
nonhumans and marriage-related property transfers in human societies such as
bridewealth and dowry covary with aspects of mate quality. This article explores this
issue for another type of marriage-related property transfer: engagement rings. We
obtained data on engagement ring costs and other variables through a mail survey
sent to recently married individuals living in the American Midwest. This article
focuses on survey responses regarding rings that were purchased by men acting
alone and using only their own funds who then presented the rings while making
surprise proposals of marriage (n=127). Men marrying younger women spent more
on rings, as did men who earned more money and whose fiancées earned more
money. These findings suggest that the amounts spent on engagement rings, like
bridewealth and dowry payments in other societies, reflect aspects of both male and
female mate quality.
Keywords Courtship .Mating .Engagement rings .Marriage .Nuptial gifts .
Marriage transactions
Nuptial gifts and courtship feeding can be found among insects (Vahed 1998), other
invertebrates (e.g., Huber 2005), and some vertebrates (e.g., Mougeot et al. 2006).
The quality of such gifts has been shown in some cases to correlate with aspects of
male mate quality (e.g., immunocompetence: Fedorka et al. 2005). Roughly
analogous to such gifts are the many types of property transfers that occur before,
during, and after marriage across human societies. These, too, have been
demonstrated to correlate with aspects of both male and female mate quality. For
example, men among the agropastoralist Kipsigis of Kenya pay higher bridewealths
when marrying younger women (Borgerhoff Mulder 1988), and the cross-cultural
Hum Nat (2007) 18:329333
DOI 10.1007/s12110-007-9018-9
L. Cronk (*):B. Dunham
Department of Anthropology and Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, Rutgers University,
131 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1414, USA
e-mail: lcronk@anthropology.rutgers.edu
distribution of dowry has been found to reflect competition among females for
access to wealthy males (Gaulin and Boster 1990).
Wedding rings have been known since ancient times, and engagement rings were
given as long ago as the Middle Ages (Brinig 1990), but the latter have become
popular only relatively recently. Rothman (1984:161) traces the beginnings of the
engagement ring custom in the United States to the 1840s, though at that time they
were given to men as well as to women. The current pattern whereby the man buys an
expensive ring, usually including a diamond, to give to his fiancée when they become
engaged became widespread only in the twentieth century. Brinig (1990; see also
Tushnet 1998) argues that this was the result of marital law reforms that swept the
United States between 1935 and 1945. Before that time, it was possible in most states to
sue for damages in the event of a brokenengagement. Brinig argues that the elimination
of such breach-of-promise actions created a demand for another bonding device, and
she suggests that diamond engagement rings filled that need. Diamond engagement
rings have remained popular in the United States since that time, with around three-
quarters of all first-time brides receiving them even when premarital cohabitation rates
increased in the 1960s and 1970s (Brinig 1990; Rothman 1984:310).
Although others have speculated that engagement ring costs may correlate with
such aspects of mate quality as commitment (Camerer 1988) and resource control
(Miller 2000), no systematic research from an evolutionary perspective has yet been
conducted on them. This article presents findings from a project designed to help
close this gap in our understanding of marriage-related property transfers. Sexual
selection theory (Darwin 1871; Trivers 1972) leads straightforwardly to the broad
prediction that amounts spent on rings will reflect aspects of male and female mate
quality. More specifically, we predict that the amounts men spend on engagement
rings will increase with their own incomes and those of their fiancées and decrease
with increasing female age. Many previous studies (e.g., Pawłowski and Dunbar
1999) have found male income to be a major component of mate preferences, a
finding that conforms to the evolutionary hypothesis that females seek mates who
are willing and able to invest in offspring. Likewise, female youth has been
predicted (Kenrick and Keefe 1992) and found (e.g., Borgerhoff Mulder 1988;
Buunk et al. 2001) to be a component of male mate preferences, which makes
evolutionary theoretical sense in light of female ages relationship to reproductive
potential. There is less theory and evidence regarding the impact of female resource
control on male mate preferences, but Gaulin and Bosters (1990) study of dowry
shows that male as well as female mate choice can be influenced by a prospective
mates control of resources.
Methods
We sent questionnaires to 1,000 couples married between June and November, 2001,
in Franklin County, Ohio. The narrow time frame enables us to disregard economic,
social, and cultural changes that take place over longer periods. Franklin County has
a total population of 1.1 million people and maintains its marriage license records
online (http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/probate/). We sent only one survey per
household so that each would provide information about a different marriage. The
330 Hum Nat (2007) 18:329333
questionnaire elicited information about the age, income, and marital status of the
individual responding and of his or her spouse as well as information about their
courtship, their engagement, the engagement ring if one was given, and their
wedding ceremony. Surveys were accompanied by stamped, self-addressed
envelopes for anonymous return; 255 surveys were returned by the post office as
undeliverable and 256 were returned by recipients, yielding a response rate of 34%.
This compares favorably with the 20% or lower response rates typical for
unsolicited, anonymous mail surveys that offer minimal compensation and that
involve no re-mailings or other reminders (Blumberg et al. 1974; Bourque and
Fielder 1995:15). Of the surveys, 33% were returned by males and 67% by females.
Results
Some couples shopped for their engagement rings together or used the wifes or
common funds to cover some or all of the cost of the ring. Because our interest in
rings is grounded in the analogy with nuptial gifts among nonhumans, our analysis
here is limited to marriages in which either no ring was given (n=13) or in which the
ring was given by the man at the time he made a surprise proposal of marriage (n=
114). Table 1provides descriptive statistics for this group.
Table 2presents the results of a linear regression model with the cost of the ring
in dollars as the dependent variable and male income, female income, and female
age, all at the time the proposal was made, as independent variables. All three
independent variables have statistically significant effects, and together they explain
36% of the variance in ring cost. These overall results are replicated in subsamples
based on the sex of the respondent, making it unlikely that the patterns observed in
Table 1 Descriptive statistics
Mean Median SD Range
Cost of ring ($) 3,531.72 3,000 3,262.76 020,000
Mans annual income ($) 41,858.20 34,000 49,231.53 0500,000
Womans annual income ($) 28,667.48 26,000 19,602.15 080,000
Mans age 29.4 25.9 10.7 1890
Womans age 27.0 24.1 9.6 1682
Income and age figures are for the time the proposal of marriage was made.
Table 2 Multiple linear regression model
Independent variable Standardized regression coefficient t
Mens income 0.509 6.221*
Womens income 0.305 3.432**
Female age 0.318 3.662*
The dependent variable is the cost of the ring.
*p=0
**p=0.001
Hum Nat (2007) 18:329333 331
the whole sample reflect female ignorance about male income or actual ring costs or
male ignorance about female income.
Discussion
Like nuptial gifts among nonhumans and previously studied marriage-related
property transfers in human societies, amounts spent on engagement rings reflect
aspects of the mate quality of both the giver and the recipient in ways that conform
to predictions derived from sexual selection theory. Specifically, younger females
and females with higher incomes are given more expensive rings, and males with
higher incomes give more expensive rings.
The effect of female youth on ring cost is in line with many other studies of the
mate preferences of human males and with expectations derived from sexual
selection theory regarding those preferences (see Schmitt 2005 for a recent review).
The effect of female income on ring cost suggests that like males in societies with
dowry (Gaulin and Boster 1990), males in our sample see female resource control as
a component of female mate quality. We do not know, however, whether males are
responding to the income itself, characteristics associated with income (e.g., a
willingness and capacity to work hard), or some combination of the two.
Male income has the strongest effect on ring cost. Although this is not surprising
in light of a general correlation between mens incomes and the amounts they spend
on consumer goods, it is still an important finding. While the cost of a ring might tell
a woman little that she does not already know about a mans income, the fit between
a mans overall spending habits and the cost of an engagement ring he offers might
give a woman valuable information about his willingness to commit to the
relationship and invest in her and her offspring.
Because our sample came from marriage license records, it is limited to cases in
which the proposal of marriage was accepted. Future studies of engagement ring
expenditures should try to include cases in which men and women proposed
marriage and were turned down, sometimes buying rings and sometimes not.
Although the brevity of our questionnaire may have had its intended effect of
increasing our response rate, it also limited us to only two indicators of mate quality:
income and age. Future studies should seek to include more indicators of mate
quality, such as waist-hip ratio (Singh 1993), fluctuating asymmetry (Van Valen
1962), facial masculinity and femininity (Perrett et al. 1998), sociosexuality
(Simpson and Gangestad 1991), and other aspects of behavior and personality.
Acknowledgements Funding for this project was provided by the Center for Human Evolutionary
Studies and the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University.
References
Blumberg, H. H., Fuller, C., & Hare, A. P. (1974). Response rates in postal surveys. Public Opinion
Quarterly, 38, 113123.
Borgerhoff Mulder, M. (1988). Kipsigis bridewealth payments. In L. L. Betzig, M. Borgerhoff Mulder, &
P. W. Turke (Eds.), Human reproductive behaviour (pp. 6582). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
332 Hum Nat (2007) 18:329333
Bourque, L. B., & Fielder, E. P. (1995). How to conduct self-administered and mail surveys. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Brinig, M. F. (1990). Rings and promises. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 6, 203215.
Buunk, B. P., Dijkstra, P., Kenrick, D. T., & Warntjes, A. (2001). Age preferences for mates as related to
gender, own age, and involvement level. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22, 241250.
Camerer, C. (1988). Gifts as economic signals and social symbols. American Journal of Sociology, 94,
S180S214.
Fedorka, K. M., Zuk, M., & Mousseau, T. A. (2005). Natural selection drives the link between male
immune function and reproductive potential. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 83, 10121014.
Darwin, C. R. (1871). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. New York: Random House.
Gaulin, S. J. C., & Boster, J. S. (1990). Dowry as female competition. American Anthropologist, 92, 9941005.
Huber, B. A. (2005). Sexual selection research on spiders: Progress and biases. Biology Review, 80, 363385.
Kenrick, D. T., & Keefe, R. C. (1992). Age preferences in mates reflect sex differences in reproductive
strategies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 15, 75133.
Miller, G. (2000). The mating mind. New York: Doubleday.
Mougeot, F., Arroyo, B. E., & Bretagnolle, V. (2006). Paternity assurance responses to first-year and adult
male territorial intrusions in a courtship-feeding raptor. Animal Behaviour, 71, 101108.
Pawłowski, B., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (1999). Impact of market value on human mate choice decisions.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 266, 281285.
Perrett, D. I., Lee, K., Penton-Voak, I., Burt, D. M., Rowland, D., Yoshikawa, S., et al. (1998). Sexual
dimorphism and facial attractiveness. Nature, 394, 884886.
Rothman, E. K. (1984). Hands and hearts: A history of courtship in America. New York: Basic Books.
Schmitt, D. P. (2005). Fundamentals of human mating strategies. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), Handbook of
human evolutionary psychology (pp. 258291). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Simpson, J. A., & Gangestad, S. W. (1991). Individual differences in sociosexuality: Evidence for
convergent and discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 870883.
Singh, D. (1993). Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR): A defining morphological feature of health and female
attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293307.
Trivers, R. L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and
the descent of man, 18711971 (pp. 136179). Chicago: Aldine.
Tushnet, R. (1998). Rules of engagement. Yale Law Journal, 107, 25832618.
Vahed, K. (1998). The function of nuptial feeding in insects: A review of empirical studies. Biology
Review, 73, 4378.
Van Valen, L. (1962). A study of fluctuating asymmetry. Evolution, 16, 125142.
Lee Cronk is a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is the
author of That Complex Whole: Culture and the Evolution of Human Behavior (Westview Press, 1999)
and From Mukogodo to Maasai: Ethnicity and Cultural Change in Kenya (Westview Press, 2004).
Bria Dunham is a graduate student in anthropology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New
Jersey. She is interested in mate choice and courtship signaling in humans.
Hum Nat (2007) 18:329333 333
... Following the logic of sexual economics, we suggest that the resources other people invest in weddings and engagement rings also form a cue of the "value" of sexual relationships, particularly committed romantic relationships, and that people are sensitive to this cue. Evidence showed, for example, that the higher the cost of an engagement ring, the higher the mate value of the man who gives and the woman who receives the engagement ring (Cronk & Dunham, 2007). Men with higher incomes gave more expensive engagement rings, and younger women and women with higher incomes received more expensive rings (Cronk & Dunham, 2007). ...
... Evidence showed, for example, that the higher the cost of an engagement ring, the higher the mate value of the man who gives and the woman who receives the engagement ring (Cronk & Dunham, 2007). Men with higher incomes gave more expensive engagement rings, and younger women and women with higher incomes received more expensive rings (Cronk & Dunham, 2007). People are aware that a high "value" of sex within a relationship implies commitment. ...
Article
Full-text available
Attitudes toward sexual relationships can have evolutionary underpinnings because these attitudes often serve, or at least reflect, the attitude holder’s mating self-interest. Sexually restricted individuals, for example, hold conservative attitudes toward same-sex and opposite-sex sexual relationships because conservative attitudes benefit their mating strategies (e.g., monogamy). Certain mating market cues, however, can shift attitudes. In two experiments recruiting Americans and Australians (total N = 1298), we took a data-driven approach to test whether experimental manipulations of (1) promiscuity among either homosexuals (gays and lesbians) or heterosexuals and (2) the financial amount that either homosexuals (gays and lesbians) or heterosexuals invest in weddings would shift attitudes toward same-sex marriage, dating, and romantic spending. In Experiment 1, we did not replicate previous findings that homosexual promiscuity affects attitudes to same-sex marriage, nor did we find any effects of priming heterosexual promiscuity. However, priming participants with the notion that either homosexuals or heterosexuals were highly promiscuous increased support for traditional relationship norms among sexually restricted Australian (but not American) men. This effect was smaller when we controlled for participant sexual orientation, because primes of high homosexual or heterosexual promiscuity increased support for these traditional norms in exclusively heterosexual Australians, but decreased support in non-heterosexual Australians. Experiment 2 found that American and Australian men’s opposition to same-sex marriage increased when they were led to believe that either homosexual or heterosexual weddings were cheap, even when controlling for participant sexual orientation. Overall, results provide some support for the argument that mating market cues affect attitudes toward sexual relationships.
... Indeed, previous research has demonstrated that men more frequently compete intrasexually by using tactics of resource possession and display to attract mates (Buss 1989). Variability in engagement ring size and cost signals men's resources (Miller 2000), with men's income being the strongest predictor of their engagement ring expenditures (Cronk and Dunham 2007). Beyond resource and status signaling, the engagement ring is also emblematic of a man's intent to marry the recipient; thus, this expenditure also overtly signals a man's commitment to, and willingness to share resources with, that woman. ...
... Women who imagined themselves mated to a less attractive man expected a larger and more expensive engagement ring than if the man were higher in attractiveness. Similarly, Cronk and Dunham (2007) found that men's engagement ring expenditure increased when they were proposing to a younger woman, whose youth serves as an indicator of reproductive potential (Campbell 2004) and contributes to their desirability as a mate (Buss 1989). Together, these findings suggest women's preferences for engagement ring quality increases alongside their relative mate value. ...
Article
Full-text available
Research on some non-human species suggests that an abundance of reproductively viable males relative to females can increase female choosiness and preferences for longer-term mating and resource investment by males. Yet little research has explored the potential influence of mate availability upon women’s preferences for signals of men’s commitment and resource provisioning. Using an experimental mate availability priming paradigm, the present study examined whether women (N = 205) primed with either mate scarcity or abundance would differ in their expectations for engagement ring size and cost. Results demonstrated that women who were primed with the belief that good-quality mates are abundant in the population reported expecting a statistically-significantly larger and more expensive engagement ring relative to women primed with mate scarcity. Results suggest that women flexibly attune their expectations for signals of men’s investment based, in part, upon their perception of the availability of viable mates.
... Because of this, the cost of the ring is important as it a strong signal to the woman as to the amount of effort or sacrifice made on her behalf. For example, Cronk and Dunham (2007) found that women assessed the quality of their partner based upon the amount of money he was willing to spend on the diamond ring, as they saw this as a reflection of his willingness to commit to -and invest in -her: "by virtue of their cost, expensive engagement rings honestly signal a suitor's ability and willingness to invest" (Cronk & Dunham, 2007: p.332). For Layla below for instance, the lack of financial investment in her ring made her feel that her partner made neither effort nor sacrifice, and as a result may not fully invested in their future: Layla is aware that a diamond ring is a financial sacrifice for many and so is an indication of the sincerity of the person who give it, and the degree to which the recipient is valued by the them. ...
... Because of this, the cost of the ring is important as it a strong signal to the woman as to the amount of effort or sacrifice made on her behalf. For example, Cronk and Dunham (2007) found that women assessed the quality of their partner based upon the amount of money he was willing to spend on the diamond ring, as they saw this as a reflection of his willingness to commit to -and invest in -her: "by virtue of their cost, expensive engagement rings honestly signal a suitor's ability and willingness to invest" (Cronk & Dunham, 2007: p.332). For Layla below for instance, the lack of financial investment in her ring made her feel that her partner made neither effort nor sacrifice, and as a result may not fully invested in their future: Layla is aware that a diamond ring is a financial sacrifice for many and so is an indication of the sincerity of the person who give it, and the degree to which the recipient is valued by the them. ...
Thesis
This study is a sociological exploration into the formation of worth in the diamond market. It contributes to the current sociology of markets literature by building upon a framework that integrates the cultural, structural and institutional factors that may affect how value is formed and performed in this market. Beginning at the point of exchange this study examines how value is created through meaning, how value might be performed through displays of distinction, what tools one might use to judge value and finally how this value can be measured. The study first approaches the notion of worth from the perspective of the demand-side of the market, and using online observations of a popular wedding website, it examines the different ways in which a diamond ring might provide value for a consumer. The study then explores the notion of worth from the perspective of the supply-side of the market, and suggests that the diamond classification system known as the “four C’s” is the bridge between the supply and demand-sides of the market as it provides consumers with the ability to distinguish and therefore operationalise value, while allowing the sellers to demonstrate different classifications of value. By approaching the notion of worth from both the supply and demand sides of the market in this way, the aim of this study is to illustrate the social nature of value.
... Miller (2000) proposed that engagement rings might serve as an honest signal of a man's current financial status. Indeed, one of the few studies on engagement ring expenditures found that the greatest predictor of the cost of an engagement ring was the male partner's income (Cronk and Dunham 2007). ...
... As reflected in the small sample size of participants who provided information about the size, color grade, and clarity grade of the engagement ring (n = 30, approximately), this may have been due to forgotten details about the quality of the engagement ring or some participants having never been told those details (e.g., engagement ring recipients). Previous research showing that younger women received more expensive engagement rings (Cronk and Dunham 2007) sampled recently married individuals who consequently might have been better able to recall the cost of the engagement ring. Thus, future studies on engagement ring expenditures should try to capture information about the engagement ring as soon after the purchase as possible, as well as record the date of purchase to control for inflation. ...
Article
Full-text available
Few material goods entail as high a cost and carry as little practical value as an engagement ring. Despite their obvious signaling value, engagement ring expenditures have rarely been studied. The purpose of the current study was to experimentally manipulate a discrepancy in the physical attractiveness of romantic partners to determine its effect on hypothetical engagement ring purchases. We predicted that (1) men would purchase larger, more expensive engagement rings when imagining themselves mated to a more attractive rather than less attractive woman and (2) women would desire larger, more expensive engagement rings when imagining themselves mated to a less attractive rather than more attractive man. We further predicted a positive correlation between women’s self-ratings of attractiveness and the size and cost of the engagement ring women chose, regardless of target attractiveness. Results supported all three predictions. Data about the cost and quality of actual engagement rings was also collected to explore their correlations with age and attractiveness discrepancies in real-world couples; however, we failed to find a consistent pattern whereby more desirable women received more expensive and higher quality engagement rings. Results from the experimental portion of the current study show that men invest greater resources in attractive women and that increased resource investment can compensate for decreased physical attractiveness within the domain of women’s mate preferences.
... For example, "costly rituals signal belief commitments" (Rossano, 2012, p.540). Thus, presenting an engagement ring signals that the proposer is willing to literally invest in the relationship (e.g., Cronk & Dunham, 2007). Enacting the proposal script also communicates that one is part of the cultural group, knows what is expected, and shares the cultural group's values (Wolin & Bennett, 1984). ...
Article
Full-text available
Little research exists concerning the Western marriage proposal ritual, and rejected proposals are particularly understudied. The current research used the lens of life script theory to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze 374 first-person written accounts of accepted and rejected marriage proposals between men and women that were sampled from online forums. Rejected proposals were more likely than accepted proposals to violate the proposal script. Compared to accepted proposals, rejected proposals included fewer ritual elements and they often happened "off-time." Specifically, rejected proposals came earlier in the relationship, typically prior to the discussion of the topic of marriage by the couple, and rejected men sometimes proposed to "save" an unstable or abusive relationship that was headed toward dissolution. As with other important life transition events, audiences played an important role in many proposals. Rejected proposals were more likely to occur in public than accepted proposals, and when present, audience members often participated in the proposal by encouraging couples to follow the proposal script and by expressing dissatisfaction when the script was violated. Some audiences became hostile when the woman said "no." Also consistent with life script theory, couples evinced strong emotions during proposals, and confusion and anger were common emotional responses among rejected suitors. Indeed, 15% of rejected proposal accounts described intimate partner violence. Yet, about 30% of relationships continued after the rejection, sometimes for years. These and other novel results contribute to the science of close relationships, family psychology, life script theory, commitment, rejection, and social rituals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... The age of potential brides influences the amount of money spent on premarriage customs in cultures such as the Kipsigis in Kenya ( Borgerhoff Mulder 1990). The amount of money spent on engagement rings is higher for younger compared to older fiancées (Cronk & Dunham 2007). Younger wives are more intensely mate guarded than older wives (Buss & Shackelford 1997). ...
Article
Full-text available
Evolved mate preferences comprise a central causal process in Darwin's theory of sexual selection. Their powerful influences have been documented in all sexually reproducing species, including in sexual strategies in humans. This article reviews the science of human mate preferences and their myriad behavioral manifestations. We discuss sex differences and sex similarities in human sexual psychology, which vary according to short-term and long-term mating contexts. We review context-specific shifts in mating strategy depending on individual, social, and ecological qualities such as mate value, life history strategy, sex ratio, gender economic inequality, and cultural norms. We review the empirical evidence for the impact of mate preferences on actual mating decisions. Mate preferences also dramatically influence tactics of mate attraction, tactics of mate retention, patterns of deception, causes of sexual regret, attraction to cues to sexual exploitability, attraction to cues to fertility, attraction to cues to resources and protection, derogation of competitors, causes of breakups, and patterns of remarriage. We conclude by articulating unresolved issues and offer a future agenda for the science of human mating, including how humans invent novel cultural technologies to better implement ancient sexual strategies and how cultural evolution may be dramatically influencing our evolved mating psychology. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology Volume 70 is January 4, 2019. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
... Men are expected to buy their brides-to-be expensive rings-worth at least 2 months' salary, according to some traditions and diamond companies-in order to even propose to their mates. One sample of 1,000 newlywed couples found that ring price was strongly negatively correlated with the age of the future bride; men purchased more expensive engagement rings for younger fiancées than for older fiancées (Cronk & Dunham, 2007). ...
Article
Full-text available
Evolutionary theorizing suggests that chronological age, because it is so strongly linked with key reproductive qualities like fertility, should be an exceptionally consequential variable in mate selection. We review voluminous evidence for mate preferences for age and the substantial and varied behavioral sequelae of those preferences. These include (a) in actual marriage decisions, men choose younger wives, and women choose older husbands, on average in all of the dozens of cultures studied; (b) in personal advertisements, men and women seek partners consistent with their expressed age preferences; (c) chronological age determines number of “hits” received in online dating services; (d) the age of potential bride influences the amount of money spent on premarriage customs; (e) men’s mate retention effort, including commitment manipulation, resource provisioning, and intrasexual threats, is significantly predicted by the wife’s age; and (f) chronological age is an important sex-linked cause of divorce. The far-reaching ramifications of age also extend to (g) tactics of intrasexual competition, (h) predictors of mate value discrepancies, (i) victims of sex crimes, and (j) prostitution patterns. Finally, chronological age predicts (k) probability of remarriage, and (l) the age gap between grooms and brides upon remarriage. We synthesize evidence from diverse methods, across different cultures, and over time spans of centuries. Massive converging evidence provides a powerful, yet complex, understanding of the evolutionary importance of age in multiple mating outcomes over the human life span.
Article
Full-text available
Evidence is presented showing that body fat distribution as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is correlated with youthfulness, reproductive endocrinologic status, and long-term health risk in women. Three studies show that men judge women with low WHR as attractive. Study 1 documents that minor changes in WHRs of Miss America winners and Playboy playmates have occurred over the past 30-60 years. Study 2 shows that college-age men find female figures with low WHR more attractive, healthier, and of greater reproductive value than figures with a higher WHR. In Study 3, 25- to 85-year-old men were found to prefer female figures with lower WHR and assign them higher ratings of attractiveness and reproductive potential. It is suggested that WHR represents an important bodily feature associated with physical attractiveness as well as with health and reproductive potential. A hypothesis is proposed to explain how WHR influences female attractiveness and its role in mate selection.
Article
Full-text available
Attempts to explain not only the rarity of dowry, but also why it occurs in the societies it does. The model builds on theory derived from behavioural ecology and views dowry as a form of competition among women for husbands. Before developing this model, reviews an alternative explanation of dowry that views the practice as an outcome of the sexual division of agricultural labour. -from Authors
Article
Nuptial feeding encompasses any form of nutrient transfer from the male to the female during or directly after courtship and/or copulation. In insects, nuptial gifts may take the form of food captured or collected by the male, parts, or even the whole of the male's body, or glandular products of the male such as salivary secretions, external glandular secretions, the spermatophore and substances in the ejaculate. Over the past decade, there has been considerable debate over the current function of nuptial feeding in insects. This debate has centred on the issue of whether nuptial gifts function as paternal investment (i.e. function to increase the fitness and/or number of the gift-giving male's own offspring) or as mating effort (i.e. function to attract females, facilitate coupling, and/or to maximize ejaculate transfer), although the two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive. In the present article, evidence for the potential of nuptial gifts to function as either paternal investment, mating effort, or both is reviewed for each form of nuptial feeding in each insect taxon for which sufficient data are available. Empirical evidence suggests that many diverse forms of nuptial feeding in different insect taxa function, at least in part, as mating effort. For example, nuptial prey and salivary masses in the Mecoptera, regurgitated food in Drosophila (Diptera), hind-wing feeding in Cyphoderris (Orthoptera) and the secretion of the male's cephalic gland in Neopyrochroa (Coleoptera) and Zorotypus (Zoraptera) appear to function to entice females to copulate and/or to facilitate coupling. Nuptial prey and salivary masses in the Mecoptera also appear to function to maximize ejaculate transfer (which is also a form of mating effort), as do nuptial prey in Empis (Diptera), external glandular secretions in Oecanthus and Allonemobius (Orthoptera) and the spermatophylax in gryllids and tettigoniids (Orthoptera). Large spermatophores in, for example, the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, also appear to be maintained by selection on the male to maximize ejaculate transfer and thereby counter the effects of sperm competition. In contrast to the large amount of evidence in support of the mating effort hypothesis, there is a relative lack of good evidence to support the paternal investment hypothesis. Certain studies have demonstrated an increase in the weight and/or number of eggs laid as a result of the receipt of larger gifts, or a greater number of gifts, in tettigoniids, gryllids, acridids, mantids, bruchid beetles, drosophilids and lepidopterans. However, virtually all of these studies (with the possible exception of studies of the spermatophylax in tettigoniids) have failed to control adequately for hormonal substances in the ejaculate that are known to affect female reproductive output. Furthermore, in at least four tettigoniids (but not in the case of two species), three lepidopterans, a drosophilid and probably also bruchid beetles and bittacids, evidence suggests that the male has a low probability of fertilising the eggs that stand to benefit from his nuptial gift nutrients. Therefore, the hypothesis that paternal investment might account for the function of nuptial gifts in general is not supported.
Chapter
This chapter reviews cross-species and cross-cultural evidence regarding the mating strategies and specialized mating psychologies that may be fundamental to humans. Comparative features of social living, sexual dimorphism, and reproductive physiology across primate species reveal insights into the natural mating psychology. The extant evidence suggests humans evolved a pluralistic mating repertoire that differs in adaptive ways across sex and temporal context, personal characteristics such as mate value and ovulatory status, and facultative features of culture and local ecology. The chapter addresses the evolutionary psychology of how men and women pursue short-term and long-term mating strategies. Another important question is why an individual man or woman would opt to pursue a long-term strategy versus a short-term strategy. In the future, evolutionary perspectives on human mating strategies should become more fully integrated with other perspectives, including religious, historical, and feminist scholarship.
Article
The finding that women are attracted to men older than themselves whereas men are attracted to relatively younger women has been explained by social psychologists in terms of economic exchange rooted in traditional sex-role norms. An alternative evolutionary model suggests that males and females follow different reproductive strategies, and predicts a more complex relationship between gender and age preferences. In particular, males' preference for relatively Younger females should be minimal during early mating years, but should become more pronounced as the male gets older. Young females are expected to prefer somewhat older males during their early years and to change less as they age. We briefly review relevant theory and present results of six studies testing this prediction. Study 1 finds support for this gender-differentiated prediction in age preferences expressed in personal advertisements. Study 2 supports the prediction with marriage statistics from two U.S. cities. Study 3 examines the cross-generational robustness of the phenomenon, and finds the same pattern in marriage statistics from 1923. Study 4 replicates Study 1 using matrimonial advertisements from two European countries, and from India. Study 5 finds a consistent pattern in marriages recorded from 1913 through 1939 on a small island in the Philippines. Study 6 reveals the same pattern in singles advertisements placed by financially successful American women and men. We consider the limitations of previous normative and evolutionary explanations of age preferences and discuss the advantages of expanding previous models to include the life history perspective.