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The Transformation of Intimacy: Mate Selection in a Ghanaian Municipality
... However, many of these works do not capture some changes that have taken place in contemporary Ghanaian marriage and family life, such as issues concerning transnational marriages and families, consensual unions, double (church and traditional) marriages, single parenthood, autonomy in mate selection, monetisation and commercialization of marriage ceremonies, the spread of religious weddings, influence of technology on intimate partnerships, marital instability/divorce, new residential arrangements, and many others. Notable exceptions include recent publications by Goody (2018) on the family; Obeng-Hinneh and Kpoor (2021), Obeng-Hinneh (2018, 2019a, 2019b; Okyere-Manu (2015) on cohabitation; Odoi (2016Odoi ( , 2018 on mate selection; Adjei (2015Adjei ( , 2016 on intimate spousal abuse and spousal violence; and Adinkrah (2014) on intimate partner femicide in Ghana. This book therefore highlights many of the recent developments in the organization of marriages and changes in marriage patterns in the country. ...
This chapter is an introduction to the edited book on Marriage and Family in Contemporary Ghana. It explains the nature of intimate relations, kinship, marriage patterns and family structure in Ghana. It also provides some insights into recent trends in marriage such as Delays in marriage, Rise in cohabitation and single parenthood, smaller extended families and nuclearization of the family, among others.
Assortative-mating theories propose that individuals select romantic relationship partners who are similar to them on positive and negative qualities. Furthermore, stress-generation and intergenerational transmission of divorce models argue that one's depression history or family-of-origin relationship problems predict qualities of a marital partner that predispose them to relationship distress. We analyzed data from 172 newlywed couples to examine predictors and mediators of a marital partner's risk index. First, an index of one's own and one's partner risk was created through factor analysis and was comprised of measures that indicate insecurity about oneself. This index was significantly correlated with baseline marital satisfaction and, among men, steps toward divorce at follow-up. Then, structural equation modeling tested direct and indirect pathways predicting partner's risk index, analyzing prior depression history and family-of-origin relational impairment as predictors and one's own risk index as the mediator. Results demonstrated that own risk index reliably predicted partner's risk, while own risk index also mediated the relationship between own family-of-origin relational dysfunction/depression history and partner's risk index. These results support assortative mating theories and suggest that the association between adverse family-of-origin relationships or depression history and the risk profile in one's marital partner is explained by one's own risk profile.
Love, sex, and money are the most direct cues involved in the fundamental forms of mate preferences. These fundamental forms are not mutually exclusive but are interrelated. As a result, humans base their mate choices on multiple cues. In this study, 62 undergraduate women (M age = 20.4 yr., SD = 1.4) from China and Japan served as the participants. They performed a variation of the semantic priming task, in which they were instructed to decide by means of a key-press whether the target was human or non-human. The primes were images that portrayed potent evolutionary factors for mate preference (i.e., love, sex, and money), and the manipulation was based on whether the prime and target matched regarding gender, independent of the target decision task (human vs nonhuman). Participants gave faster responses to male targets than to female targets under priming. The results generally supported the evolutionary premises that assume mate preference is determined by fundamental forms of providing emotional (love), material (money), and fertility support (sex). The money priming effect was stronger in the Chinese women than in the Japanese women, suggesting that social context may influence mate preferences.
Self-referencing, or the assessment of one’s own attributes, may play a critical role in human mate choice if an individual’s perceived self-worth for a given personal attribute influences her or his preference for that same attribute in potential mates. We studied the potential role of self-perception in human mate choice in New Zealand college students, using survey-based responses to contrast predictions of the potentials attract versus the likes attract hypotheses. The survey was designed to include a test for a possible source of confounding error, common to survey-based studies: the uniform response bias (URB). Specifically, we included a third section of questions, where participants rated their preference for neutral objects unrelated to mate choice. Our analyses used polynomial regression techniques and corrected for multiple statistical tests. The data revealed a strong positive correlation between perceived self-worth in a particular trait and a declared preference for that same trait in potential mates in both sexes. Critically, we found no correlation between preference for neutral objects and the extent of either self-perception or mate preference, indicating that our results were not the bi-product of URB. These findings provide independent confirmation of previous conclusions that self-perception is likely to play an important role in mate selection by humans and other animals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
Human height is a quantitative trait influenced by genetics and environmental conditions. Historical records from several European nations show a rapid increase in average population heights during the 19th century. Improvements in nutrition and public health are known contributors to this increase, but, theoretically, evolutionary selection may have also played a role. Women prefer taller mates, and sexual selection for height has likely contributed to evolutionary changes in human height. However, cultural restrictions on mate selection freedom prior to the 19th century may have blunted the effects of this mate preference. We hypothesized that a shift toward gender equality in 19th century Sweden increased mate selection freedom for women and amplified sexual selection for height. A mathematical model supported environmental factors as the main force driving population height change, and suggested a limited role for sexual selection. More generally, the model provides a framework for studying interactions between cultural change and evolutionary selection mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
We investigated age preferences and mate choice for students whose ages ranged from 18 to 30 years in a sample from the world’s most egalitarian nation. Sex differences in age preferences have been shown to be quite consistent across a variety of cultures, but the explanations for these findings have varied. From an evolutionary psychology point of view, we predicted that sex differences would be present, even in a sample of Norwegian students. If the findings were based on biosocial theory we should see a significant decrease in sex differences in mate choice (as in actual relationships) and in preferences for age compared to other cross-cultural samples. The predictions derived from evolutionary theory were supported: men wanted younger partners than women, and the preference for younger women increased with the man’s age. Women showed a more stable preference for slightly older men. The actual partner choice, as reflected in current relationships, also supported the prediction: men choose younger partners than themselves, and women choose older partners. These findings support the hypothesis that men have an evolved tendency to be attracted to women who display cues of high reproductive value and women have an evolved tendency to be attracted to men who display cues of status and resources, even in a culture that is internationally renowned for its egalitarianism.
In this article, research is reviewed on the emergence of male and female leaders in initially leaderless groups. In these laboratory and field studies, men emerged as leaders to a greater extent than did women. Male leadership was particularly likely in short-term groups and in groups carrying out tasks that did not require complex social interaction. In contrast, women emerged as social leaders slightly more than did men. These and other findings were interpreted in terms of gender role theory, which maintains that societal gender roles influence group behavior. According to this theory, sex differences in emergent leadership are due primarily to role-induced tendencies for men to specialize more than women in behaviors strictly oriented to their group's task and for women to specialize more than men in socially facilitative behaviors.
The present study explored minimum mate selection standards (i.e., the lowest levels of various characteristics that an individual must possess in order to be considered a potential partner) and the extent to which gender, self-perceived mate value, and relationship context moderate minimum standards. Men and women were more selective (expressed higher minimum standards) as the mating context shifted from short- to long-term, for a number of partner attributes. As expected, gender moderated these effects; women were more selective than men when considering a potential short-term (but not long-term) mate. Men's self-perceived mate value largely was unassociated with their selection standards; however, women's mate value correlated positively with their minimum criteria, across a variety of characteristics and for a short-term sex and a long-term romantic partner. As expected, gender differences in the strength of these correlations were greater in the short-term than in the long-term mating context.
This article examines the influences of nonfamily experiences on participation in the selection of a first spouse in an arranged marriage society. The authors developed a theoretical framework to explain how a broad array of nonfamily experiences may translate into greater participation in the choice of a spouse. Analyses show that premarital nonfamily experiences, in general, and media exposure and participation in youth clubs, in particular, have strong positive effects on individual participation in the choice of a spouse. These findings suggest new ways of thinking about the relationship between social change and the transition away from arranged marriage. Overall, changes in these nonfamily experiences can account for a substantial fraction of the historical increase of youth involvement in mate selection.
The majority of mate selection research focuses on what people want, rather than what they will settle for, in a partner. The present study explored the extent to which sex, self perceived mate value, and relationship context moderate ideal partner preferences and the willingness to compromise ideal standards. When considering a casual sex partner, men and women emphasized and were unwilling to compromise on physical attractiveness; when considering a romantic partner, both emphasized and refused to compromise on interpersonal responsiveness. Sex differences primarily occurred in the context of short-term mating, with women ideally seeking an older more interpersonally responsive sex partner and demonstrating less willingness than men to compromise their standards on a number of dimensions. Men's mate value largely was disassociated with their selection criteria; women's mate value correlated positively with their ideal preferences across many characteristics and in both mating contexts.
This investigation compared women's and men's desired characteristics in partners for typical short-term ('dating someone more than once' without an expectation of a short- or long-term relationship) and long-term ('dating someone for a long time' with the possibility, but not certainty, of marriage) relationships. Results indicated that (a) both women and men are more selective when selecting a long-term rather than a short-term relationship partner, and (b) women and men differ in their desired characteristics for short-term relationship partners and long-term relationship partners. The preferred characteristics of each sex support a qualified differential parental investment perspective: men see `reproductive value' (e.g., physical attractiveness) as important for potential female partners, and women look at `resource acquisition ability' (e.g., earning capacity) as important for potential male partners. While there were significant differences between men and women in their desired characteristics in short- and long-term relationship partners, there were many similarities in what they seek, such as the desire for children in long-term partners and an exciting personality in short-term and long-term partners.
Thematic analysis is a poorly demarcated, rarely acknowledged, yet widely used qualitative analytic method within psychology. In this paper, we argue that it offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data. We outline what thematic analysis is, locating it in relation to other qualitative analytic methods that search for themes or patterns, and in relation to different epistemological and ontological positions. We then provide clear guidelines to those wanting to start thematic analysis, or conduct it in a more deliberate and rigorous way, and consider potential pitfalls in conducting thematic analysis. Finally, we outline the disadvantages and advantages of thematic analysis. We conclude by advocating thematic analysis as a useful and flexible method for qualitative research in and beyond psychology.
Sexual selection is a well established evolutionary process based on preferences for specific traits in one sex by members of the other sex. It is important in the evolution of morphological traits, and several sexually dimorphic traits in humans, such as facial hair and facial shape1, are assumed to be the outcome of such a process. Here we demonstrate that taller men are reproductively more successful than shorter men, indicating that there is active selection for stature in male partners by women.
For nearly 70 years, studies have shown large sex differences in human mate selection preferences. However, most of the studies were restricted to a limited set of mate selection criteria and to college students, and neglecting relationship status. In this study, 21,245 heterosexual participants between 18 and 65 years of age (mean age 41) who at the time were not involved in a close relationship rated the importance of 82 mate selection criteria adapted from previous studies, reported age ranges for the oldest and youngest partner that they would find acceptable, and responded to 10 yes/no questions about a potential marriage partner. For nearly all mate selection criteria, women were found to be the more demanding sex, although men placed consistently more value on the physical attractiveness of a potential partner than women. Also, the effects of the participants' age and level of education were nearly negligible. These results demonstrate the robustness of sex differences in mate selection criteria across a substantial age range.
Two recent studies have shown a relationship between male height and number of offspring in contemporary developed-world populations.
One of them argues as a result that directional selection for male tallness is both positive and unconstrained. This paper
uses data from a large and socially representative national cohort of men who were born in Britain in March 1958. Taller men
were less likely to be childless than shorter ones. They did not have a greater mean number of children. If anything, the
pattern was the reverse, since men from higher socioeconomic groups tended to be taller and also to have smaller families.
However, clear evidence was found that men who were taller than average were more likely to find a long-term partner, and
also more likely to have several different long-term partners. This confirms the finding that tall men are considered more
attractive and suggests that, in a noncontracepting environment, they would have more children. There is also evidence of
stabilizing selection, since extremely tall men had an excess of health problems and an increased likelihood of childlessness.
The conclusion is that male tallness has been selected for in recent human evolution but has been constrained by developmental
factors and stabilizing selection on the extremely tall.
Patterns of mate preference in Morocco are investigated in order to test whether they support hypotheses advanced by David
Buss and other evolutionary psychologists. Because of the custom of cousin marriage in Morocco, a multivariate model that
included cosocialization data was developed for the purpose of testing the Westermarck hypothesis of inbreeding avoidance.
Hence, two previously separate domains of research are unified in one design that permits the further exploration of questions
pertaining to the domain specificity of psychological mechanisms. Multiple independent mate choice predictors were identified
using logistic regression analysis. Results support the Westermarck hypothesis of inbreeding avoidance. Sleeping in the same
room during childhood was found in both sexes to produce an aversion to marriage. Other evidence suggests that aversion to
inbreeding extends further among females than males in that females but not males show an aversion to marriage to related
individuals with whom they had daily social contact in early childhood. The evolutionary prediction that females differ from
males concerning resource holding capacity was also supported. Females showed a preference for males whom they judged to have
higher social status than theirs, while this criterion was unimportant for males. The predicted sex difference in preferred
age of marriage partner was also supported. Contrary to previous findings, the predicted difference between the sexes with
regard to physical attractiveness was not supported.
We examined patterns of trait similarity (assortative mating) in married couples in four cultures, using both self-reports and spouse ratings on versions of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. There was evidence of a subtle but pervasive perceived contrast bias in the spouse-rating data. However, there was strong agreement across methods of assessment and moderate agreement across cultures in the pattern of results. Most assortment effects were small, but correlations exceeding .40 were seen for a subset of traits, chiefly from the Openness and Agreeableness domains. Except in Russia, where more positive assortment was seen for younger couples, comparisons of younger and older cohorts showed little systematic difference. This suggested that mate selection, rather than convergence over time, accounted for similarity. Future research on personality similarity in dyads can utilize different designs but should assess personality at both domain and the facet levels.
Evolutionary-related hypotheses about gender differences in mate selection preferences were derived from Triver's parental investment model, which contends that women are more likely than men to seek a mate who possesses nonphysical characteristics that maximize the survival or reproductive prospects of their offspring, and were examined in a meta-analysis of mate selection research (questionnaire studies, analyses of personal advertisements). As predicted, women accorded more weight than men to socioeconomic status, ambitiousness, character, and intelligence, and the largest gender differences were observed for cues to resource acquisition (status, ambitiousness). Also as predicted, gender differences were not found in preferences for characteristics unrelated to progeny survival (sense of humor, "personality"). Where valid comparisons could be made, the findings were generally invariant across generations, cultures, and research paradigms.
The demographic study of nuptiality in African countries is not very developed and often of secondary interest in a discussion of the proximate determinants of fertility. This paper uses unusual marriage history data to examine divorce and remarriage in rural Malawi.
Life table probabilities of divorce range from 40 to 65 percent and are among the highest on the continent. An investigation into the determinants of marital instability using proportional hazards models confirms the importance of kinship systems and female empowerment, but the mechanism underlying the high divorce rates in Malawi seems to be more complicated than that. This is, for example, illustrated in the effect of the polygyny variables. Marriage, divorce, and remarriage are further considered as empowering strategies that women deploy throughout their lives.
Heterosexual participants (M=175) rated the desirability of 21 characteristics categorized into six areas (ability, personality, character, physical, resources, and values) in a possible long-term partner, and completed a self-evaluation questionnaire regarding how the characteristics described themselves. Participants also completed a Big Five personality inventory. As predicted, females rated indicators of earning power significantly higher than males, who rated good looks and heredity higher. Effects of preferences for similarity were shown in education and financial background, self-assessed attractiveness, values, and personality. A regression analysis showed that sex and self-ratings were consistently related to partner preferences for wealth, occupation, and education. Political, rather than religious beliefs of the participants, played a strong role in many preference ratings. Limitations of this methodology are discussed.
This study compared the ranking of 18 characteristics or desirable traits that college students might take into consideration when selecting a mate. The current study was compared to previous studies from 1939-2011, which dealt with the same issue. Among the most consistent findings for all eight assessment periods is the high value both sexes placed on dependable character, emotional stability/maturity, pleasing disposition, and mutual attraction/love. Men across all periods placed higher value than women on good looks, good health, and good cook/housekeeper, while women placed a higher value on ambitious/industrious and good financial prospect.
Throughout the world, marriages in which the husband is older than his wife are more common than same-age and women-older marriages. Yet there is surprisingly little systematic knowledge about within-country variation in spousal age differences. This study used comprehensive Swedish register data to investigate how age differences in newly married couples were associated with spouses' age, gender, education, income, and birthplace. Among both women and men, small age differences were most common among the highly educated, high-income earners, and native Swedes, whereas persons with low education, low income, and non-Swedish origin more often entered marriages with large age differences, particularly men-older marriages. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical attempts to explain spousal age differences and sociodemographic selection into couples with different age relationships.
Studies concerned with modernity, mission Christianity, and sexuality generally address how western, Christian gender ideologies have affected women or how they have affected modernization. This article approaches the nexus of modernity, Christianity, and sexuality from a different angle. One of the notable consequences of modernization was that young people in industrializing nations began demanding the right to choose their own spouse and marry for love. Several scholars have noted the connection between modernization and spouse self-selection, but none have explored the relationship between Christianity's endorsement of spouse self-selection and its global appeal during the mid-twentieth century. This article examines a collection of letters written by young Africans to missionary Walter Trobisch after reading his popular 1962 book,
I Loved a Girl
. These letters suggest that Christianity's endorsement of spouse self-selection and marrying for love gave it a kind of modern appeal for young people who were eagerly adopting the modern values of individualism and self-fulfillment. The practice of prayer provided relief to young people who were struggling to navigate the unfamiliar realm of dating in the modern world.
In an ethnographic investigation of mate choice formation, proximal, distal, and historical factors are incorporated into a single research design. The impact of a variety of causal factors—economic, social, familial, and dyadic—on ethnoreligious marriages over 50 years in an Illinois agricultural community is examined. Data are derived from archival records, a survey of 70 farm households, and intensive interviews and participant observation with a subsample of eight families. A farm community, because of its clear boundaries and an easily identifiable population, provides an ideal microcosm for studying the complex interplay of multiple influences on marital decision making. Studying mate choice in this setting brings into sharp relief the significance of contextual variables, such as the economy and the social composition of a community, which heretofore may have been underestimated in studies focused on homogeneous college-student populations.
This study attempted to determine whether ideal mate images actually influence mate selection. The mate perceptions of 90 engaged persons were compared with the ideal mate conceptions of single, unengaged persons precision-matched to the engaged individuals on personality characteristics. Analysis of personality and perception correlation matrices lead to the observation that mate perceptions of engaged persons, although highly inaccurate, bear little resemblance to the ideal mate conceptions of unengaged single persons. The mate actually selected has different personality relationships to the self than the ideal mate has, and is perceived as having different relationships to the self than are conceived between the ideal mate and the self. It is concluded that the ideal mate images are therefore probably of little importance in mate selection; neither are they a salient feature in the perception of the selected mate.
The aim of the present study was to investigate British Indian men and women's perceptions of Indian physical appearance ideals and related attributes. Eight semistructured interviews with men and women were conducted, and the data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four themes emerged from the data: 1) Cultural similarities and differences in physical appearance, 2) Gender differences in pressure experienced, 3) Improving physical appearance for marriage, and 4) Factors influencing appearance pressures. The findings indicated that participants perceived few cultural similarities in the Indian and Western standards for physical appearance. Internalisation of Indian body ideals (including fair skin and slimness) were linked to finding a suitable partner for marriage for women, and this pressure was largely perceived to be influenced by maternal encouragement and the media. The results indicate that gender is influential in determining the physical, psychological and social implications of attempting to conform to the cultural physical appearance ideals and related attributes.
This article examines the considerations that guide parents in an extreme Hasidic community with regard to mate selection for their children. Findings of the study indicate that an appreciable number of factors deal with personal aspects of a prospective match, such as age, external appearance, intellectual abilities, and genetic compatibility, while some concern the family of an intended match, for example, the family's financial status, lineage, and general history of health. Conspicuous by its absence is any consideration of the compatibility of the couple themselves. Gender differences are significant in relation to the importance of the different variables. The study findings reflect the prevalent attitude in ultra-Orthodox society that sees marriage for the most part as a contractual agreement between families, demonstrating that this is, in effect, a barter system between two parties—the families of the projected couple.
There is a lively literature on sex differences in mate preferences primarily in Western cultures. The few cross-cultural studies that exist are limited, as they ignore the role of religion on mate preferences. In this article, we randomly selected 500 personal advertisements placed by Muslims who live in the United States. Content analysis revealed that there were no significant sex differences in seeking a physically attractive mate. However, women mentioned their physical attractiveness more than men did, while men, more than women, sought mates younger than themselves. Women preferred financially secure partners and placed a higher value on finding partners who were emotionally sensitive and sincere than did the men. Furthermore, women significantly, more than men, advertised their religiosity and sought religious partners.
Linguistic homogamy allows the transmission of a couple's non-English language to the younger generation and thus plays a key role in the persistence of non-English-language groups in the United States. Like other kinds of assortative marriage, linguistic homogamy is influenced by the prevailing demographic opportunities for people to meet and marry persons with similar language characteristics. This study examines linguistic and educational marriage patterns for native-born Americans in six language groups while controlling for the population's age, sex, educational, and linguistic composition. The results first show that linguistic homogamy is more pronounced for men and women of lower educational status and that education is more salient than language in marriage choices for Americans whose first language is French, German, Italian, or Polish. Further analysis shows that the common pattern of educational hypergamy in which women marry men with higher educational status than themselves is more pronounced in cross-language marriages involving English-language women than in those involving English-language men, which suggests an exchange between men's economic and women's noneconomic characteristics.
Researchers who study mate selection have become increasingly interested in whether human mate selection criteria are universal. However, the majority of the published work focuses on Western cultures. In this article, we address this shortcoming by testing some of the hypotheses advanced by evolutionary psychologists on mate preferences among Muslims. Respondents were asked to rate the desirability of 18 characteristics in a potential mate and to rank 13 characteristics of potential mates from most to least important. Overall, the findings reported here are consistent with evolutionary psychologists approach to mate selection. However, a significant finding of this study is that the preference for a religious mate and a mate with similar religious background emerged as the most desirable attributes in a potential mate by both sexes.
"… seeks to describe and interpret the main changes in family patterns that have occurred over the past half-century in Japan, China, India, the West, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab countries and to relate them to various alterations in other institutional areas." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Is there compelling evidence that the attachment system is operative in adult romantic relationships? If so, does it serve the same function as in infancy? Do pair-bond partners replace parents in their roles as primary attachment figures, as J. Bowlby hypothesized? And, if so, by what processes does the transition occur? These are some of the questions addressed in this chapter. In our own research, we started with the last ones—whether attachments are transferred from parents to partners, and how. We therefore begin with a brief summary of these results. This is followed by a review of the literature, including some of our own work, as it relates to the question of whether pair bonds are attachments in the technical sense. Throughout the chapter and in the third section especially, we address issues related to the function and evolutionary significance of attachment bonds in adulthood. Finally, we outline a model of the processes by which attachment bonds are formed between romantic partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The origins of sex differences in human behavior can lie mainly in evolved dispositions that differ by sex or mainly in the differing placement of women and men in the social structure. The present article contrasts these 2 origin theories of sex differences and illustrates the explanatory power of each to account for the overall differences between the mate selection preferences of men and women. Although this research area often has been interpreted as providing evidence for evolved dispositions, a reanalysis of D. M. Buss's (see record
1989-32627-001) study of sex differences in the attributes valued in potential mates in 37 cultures yielded cross-cultural variation that supports the social structural account of sex differences in mate preferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Contrary to assumptions underlying current psychological theories of human mating, throughout much of human history parents often controlled the mating behavior of their children. In the present research, the authors tested the hypothesis that the level of parental influence on mating is associated with the level of collectivism in a culture. A scale to assess the degree of parental influence on mate choice was administered to four samples: 371 students from the Netherlands; 197 young people from Kurdistan, Iraq; 80 students from 30 different countries studying in the Netherlands; and 102 students in Canada. As expected, the Kurdish sample reported higher levels of parental influence on mate choice than the Dutch sample, and parental influence was found to be higher in more collectivistic countries. In the Canadian sample, participants with an East Asian background (who have greater exposure to collectivistic cultural norms) indicated greater parental influence than did participants with a European background.
Similar criteria may operate in mate choice and in mate retention. For example, United States couples tend to be similar, and the more similar they are, the happier and more stable their relationships are. Another widespread criterion is male dominance, which females in several primate species seem to find desirable in a mate. Defined in various ways, dominance seems to characterize men that women find desirable. Also, cross-cultural evidence suggests that attractiveness, particularly in women, enhances mate value. A survey of over 1000 British couples was undertaken to test the homogamy (similarity), male dominance, and female attractiveness hypotheses in that society. In 19 of 42 tests, homogamous couples tended to be significantly (p < 0.01) more satisfied. Couples, especially wives, were more satisfied if the husband dominated decision making, but excessive husband dominance reduced satisfaction. Husbands were more satisfied if the wife was moderately more attractive than they were. Unlike some previous U.S. studies, this one revealed no relationship between marital satisfaction and the husband's earning more than the wife, being better educated, or having wealthier parents. In addition to the homogamy hypothesis, the notion that dominant men gain attractive wives received qualified support. Economic factors may be less fundamental to marital satisfaction than these other variables.
The literature on human mate preferences is vast but most data come from studies on college students in complex societies, who represent a thin slice of cultural variation in an evolutionarily novel environment. Here, I present data on the mate preferences of men and women in a society of hunter-gatherers, the Hadza of Tanzania. Hadza men value fertility in a mate more than women do, and women value intelligence more than men do. Women place great importance on men's foraging, and both sexes rate character as important. Unlike college students, Hadza men place considerable importance on women being hard-working, and Hadza women cite looks about as often as men do. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)
The sexual revolution: an evocative term, but what meaning can be given to it today? How does âsexualityâ come into being, and what connections does it have with the changes that have affected personal life more generally? In answering these questions, the author disputes many of the dominant interpretations of the role of sexuality in modern culture. The author suggests that the revolutionary changes in which sexuality has become cauth up are more long-term than generally conceded. He sees them as intrinsic to the development of modern societies as a whole and to the broad characteristics of that development. Sexuality as we know it today is a creation of modernity, a terrain upon which the contradictory tendencies of modern social life play themselves out in full. Emancipation and oppression, opportunity and riskâthese have become a part of a heady mix that irresistably ties our individual lives to global outcomes and the transformation of intimacy. We live today in a social order in which, for the first time in histroy, women are becoming equal to menâor at least have lodged a claim to such equality as their right. The author does not attempt to analyze the gender inequalities that persist in the economic or political domains, but instead concentrates on a more hisdden personal area in which womenâordinary women, in the course of their day-to-day lives, quite apart from any political agendaâhave pioneered changes of greate, and generalizable, importance. These changes essentially concern an exploration of the potentialities of the âpure relationship,â a relaitonship that presumes sexual and emotional equality, and is explosive in its connotations for pre-existing relations of power. The author analyzes the emergence of what he calls plastic sexualityâsexuality freed from its intrinsic relation to reproductionâin terms of the emotional emancipation implicit in the pure relationship, as well as womenâs claim to sexual pleasure. Plastic sexuality is decentered sexuality, freed from both reproduction and subservience to a fixed object. It can be molded as a trait of personality, and thus become bound up with the reflexivity of the self. Premised on plastic sexuality, the pure relationship is not exclusively heterosexual; it is neutral in terms of sexual orientation. The author speculates that the transformaion of intimacy might be a subversive influence on modern institutions as a whole, for a social world in which the dominant ideal was to achieve intinsic rewards from the company of others might be vastly different from that which we know at the present.
Authors of previous studies have shown that men tend to be more romantic than women and that men and women differ in the qualities they value in potential marriage partners. That research has tended to focus on Americans. In this study the hypotheses that men are more romantic than women and that men and women differ in the qualities they value in potential marriage partners were tested with Korean college students as subjects. The results suggest that men are more romantic than women and that women and men differ in their mate selection criteria. A subset of that sample was used to determine the extent to which parental involvement in marriage decisions is considered legitimate. A secondary purpose of the study was to explore the impact of certain linguistic and cultural variables, particularly those involving major life decisions (such as marriage), on the interpretation of such results.
In most birds and mammals, young are raised in family groups. The phenotypes of nestmates and parents are thus reliable cues for recognition of conspecifics and kin. However, in some species, young develop alone, or in broods of mixed relatedness (e.g. because of multiple paternity or maternity), or among heterospecifics or unrelated conspecifics (brood parasites). Under these circumstances, the best referent (model) for discriminating close from distant kin and heterospecifics from conspecifics might be one's own self. This recognition process is known as self-referent phenotype matching. Here we review recent experimental evidence of self-referencing and suggest that behavioral neuroscience can provide new tools and insights into how it works (its proximate mechanistic and ontogenetic bases) and why it exists (its adaptive significance).
Spousal concordance for common mental disorders provides evidence of the relevance of social contextual factors. There are, however, limitations within the existing literature examining spousal similarity in mental health and little consensus as to the causes of spousal similarity. This study considers a large representative sample and examines an extensive range of risk factors using multilevel statistical methods to explore spousal similarity in common mental disorders.
Data were from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, a large nationally representative survey of Australian households. Analysis focused on 3808 mixed-sex couples in marriage and de facto relationships. Multilevel models assessed the mental health scale of the SF-36. Analyses considered risk factors at the individual, couple and area levels, examined the effects of relationship duration on concordance, and considered longitudinal data to assess the consistency with cross-sectional analysis.
Significant spousal concordance on the mental health scale was demonstrated (r=0.25) and was independent of, and unexplained by mental health risk factors, including experience of multiple shared life events. Spousal similarity for mental health increased across the first 5 years of relationships.
Evidence of spousal concordance for common mental disorders highlights the importance of the social context of marriage in the aetiology of mental illness and identifies an important direction for further research.
Mate Choice in Modern Societies: Testing Evolutionary Hypotheses with Behavioural Data
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