Mix and match
Who Marries Differently-Aged Spouses? Ability, Education, Occupation, Earnings, and Appearance
Hani Mansour & Terra McKinnish
Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming
Abstract:
In direct contrast to conventional wisdom and most economic models of marital age gaps, we present robust evidence that men and women who are married to differently-aged spouses are negatively selected. Empirical results show lower cognitive ability, lower educational attainment, lower occupational wages, lower earnings, and less attractive appearance among those married to a differently-aged spouse. These results, obtained using samples of first marriages and controlling for age of marriage, are consistent with a model in which individuals with more schooling and more upwardly-mobile occupations interact more heavily with similarly-aged peers and are ultimately more likely to marry similarly-aged spouses.
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Men's music ability and attractiveness to women in a real-life courtship context
Nicolas Guéguen, Sébastien Meineri & Jacques Fischer-Lokou
Psychology of Music, forthcoming
Abstract:
This experiment tested the assumption that music plays a role in sexual selection. Three hundred young women were solicited in the street for their phone number by a young male confederate who held either a guitar case or a sports bag in his hands or had no bag at all. Results showed that holding a guitar case was associated with greater compliance to the request, thus suggesting that musical practice is associated with sexual selection.
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After All I Have Done For You: Self-silencing Accommodations Fuel Women's Post-Rejection Hostility
Rainer Romero-Canyas et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, July 2013, Pages 732-740
Abstract:
An experimental study tests if people's hostility after experiencing rejection is partly explained by the degree to which they had initially suppressed their own feelings and beliefs to please the source of rejection. This hypothesis emerges from the literatures on women's self-silencing and that on rejection-sensitivity, which has documented that rejection-sensitive women show strong responses to rejection, but are also likely to self-silence to please their partners. An online dating paradigm examined if this self-silencing drives post-rejection hostility among women. Participants were given the opportunity to read about a potential dating partner before meeting that person, and were randomly assigned to one of 3 experimental conditions that resulted in rejection from the potential date or from another dater. Self-silencing was captured as the suppression of tastes and opinions that clashed with those of the prospective partner. Self-silencing moderated the effect of rejection on hostility: Self-silencing to the prospective partner was associated with greater post-rejection hostility among women, but not men. Self-silencing to someone other than the rejecter was not predictive of hostility. Women's dispositional rejection-sensitivity predicted greater hostility after rejection, and self-silencing mediated this association. Efforts to secure acceptance through accommodation may help explain the paradoxical tendency of some people to show strong rejection-induced hostility toward those whose acceptance they have sought.
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Spencer Olmstead et al.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, May 2013, Pages 625-635
Abstract:
Using qualitative content analysis from the written comments of 404 primarily heterosexual college students, we examined (1) their expectations for pornography use while married or in a committed long-term relationship and (2) variations by gender. Four prominent groups emerged. A majority of men (70.8 %) and almost half of women (45.5 %) reported circumstances (alone or with their partners) wherein pornography use was acceptable in a relationship and several conditions for, and consequences associated with, such use also emerged. Another group (22.3 % men; 26.2 % women) viewed pornography use as unacceptable because of being in a committed relationship whereas a third group (5.4 % men; 12.9 % women) reported that pornography use was unacceptable in any context or circumstance. A final group emerged of a few women (10.4 %) who stated that a partner's use of pornography was acceptable, but they did not expect to use it personally. Implications for relationship education among emerging adults and future research on pornography use within the context of romantic relationships are discussed.
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Monogamy Lite: Cheating, College, and Women
Amy Wilkins & Cristen Dalessandro
Gender & Society, forthcoming
Abstract:
Studies of collegiate sexuality have not examined infidelity. Using in-depth peer interviews with college students, our article investigates the meanings and practices of "monogamy" and "cheating" for college women. College women use ideas about age, class, and gender to construct collegiate sexuality as a kind of "monogamy lite" exempt from the "rules" of adult sexuality. Many have cheated themselves. Simultaneously, they define "real" relationships as exclusive and condemn "cheaters" as bad people. We employ an intersectional analysis to analyze these discrepancies, arguing that the multiple meanings women use reconcile contradictions between expectations for women's sexuality and expectations about collegiate behavior, allowing women to sustain a commitment to relationships while also participating in collegiate sexual culture. Moreover, by providing a socially legible, gender-appropriate way to end unwanted relationships, these meanings allow women to use cheating to solve dilemmas in their intimate lives. In this case, college women use middle-class ideas about the transition to adulthood to resist gendered imperatives.
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A Double Standard for "Hooking Up": How Far Have we Come Toward Gender Equality?
Rachel Allison & Barbara Risman
Social Science Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
While sexual attitudes have liberalized in the past half century, research is mixed as to whether attitudes have become less gendered over time. Recent studies on college students' sexual and romantic relationships suggest that a sexual double standard continues to organize sexuality on many campuses. Data from the College Social Life Survey shed light on students' evaluation of casual sex, or "hooking up." In addition to exploring gendered attitudinal patterns, we use gender structure theory to explore how individual characteristics and normative expectations of campus group affiliations shape attitudes. While three quarters of students do not hold different standards for men and women's hooking up, attitudes are more conservative than liberal, with almost half of students losing respect for men and women who hook up "a lot." However, men are more likely to hold a traditional double standard, while women are more likely to espouse egalitarian conservative attitudes. Individual characteristics, including age, religion, race, social class and sexual orientation are frequently related to sexual attitudes, as are number of hook ups, fraternity/sorority affiliation and varsity athletic participation.
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Lela Rankin Williams & Stephen Russell
Archives of Sexual Behavior, May 2013, Pages 649-658
Abstract:
Typically, "non-romantic" sexual relationships are assumed to be casual; however, the emotional and social distinctions between romantic and non-romantic contexts are not well understood, particularly in adolescence. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) was used to compare shared emotional (e.g., telling partner that they love her/him) and social (e.g., going out in a group) activities within romantic and non-romantic sexual relationships. Adolescents who reported exclusively romantic sexual relationships (n = 1,891) shared more emotional, but not social, activities with their partners than adolescents who were in non-romantic sexual relationships (n = 315; small effect size, r = .07-.13), akin to adolescents who experienced both relationship types (n = 519; small-to-medium effect size, r = .18-.38). Girls shared more emotional and social activities with their partners than boys when in romantic relationships (small effect size, r = .06-.10); there were no significant gender differences within non-romantic sexual relationships. Findings suggest that gendered scripts remain for sexual relationships that are romantic but not for those that are non-romantic. Notably, for the majority of adolescents, non-romantic relationships still held many emotional and social dimensions typical of romantic relationships and differences between relationship types were small. Although non-romantic relationships were less intimate than romantic sexual relationships, there was remarkable heterogeneity within this relationship type. Caution is advised when working with adolescents engaged in "casual" sexual relationships. Understanding the complexity of adolescent sexual relationships is critical for the advancement of effective sex education programming.
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Lela Rankin Williams & Heidi Adams
Children and Youth Services Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using focus groups, this study sought to understand and compare how Mexican American (n = 41, M= 16.0 years old, SD = .96) and European American (n= 34, M= 16.1 years old, SD = .64) youth conceptualize and experience "friends with benefits" relationships (FWBRs). Contrary to the implied nature of friendship, partners did not show caring and viewed FWBRs as a means to meet sexual needs. The "benefits" of this arrangement included guilt-free pleasure, little responsibility, the freedom to date others, or to remain available for a more desirable partner. The inherent deficits of FWBRs, on the other hand, included the potential pitfall of getting emotionally attached. Despite the recognized deficits, European American and Mexican American girls both desired and participated in FWBRs. However, Mexican American girls described more committed "going-out" relationships as ideal, which left them vulnerable to mismatched expectations and emotional upset in FWBRs. Findings outline the socio-emotional contexts of adolescent involvement in FWBRs, as well as underscore the potential for conflicting desires. Recommendations for healthy relationship and sexual health programs are discussed.
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Making the Connection: Social Bonding in Courtship Situations
Daniel McFarland, Dan Jurafsky & Craig Rawlings
American Journal of Sociology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Sociologists have long argued that the force of a social bond resides in a sense of interpersonal connection. This is especially true for initial courtship encounters when pairs report a sense of interpersonal chemistry. We explore the process of romantic bonding by applying interaction ritual theory, extended and integrated with methods from computational linguistics, to the study of courtship encounters, and specifically heterosexual speed dating. We find that the assortment of interpersonal moves associated with a sense of connection characterize a conventionalized form of initial courtship activity. The game is successfully played when females are the point of focus and engaged in the conversation, and males demonstrate alignment with and understanding of the female. In short, initial heterosexual courtship encounters reflect a reciprocal asymmetric game where differentiated roles are mutually coordinated, and a sense of bonding is associated with a successful situational performance.
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Gert Stulp et al.
Animal Behaviour, forthcoming
Abstract:
Mutual mate choice is prevalent in humans, where both males and females have a say in their choice of partner. How the choices made by one sex constrain the choice of the other remains poorly understood, however, because human studies have mostly limited themselves to measuring preferences. We used a sample of 5782 speed-daters making 128 104 choices to link preferences for partner height to actual choice and the formation of a match (the mutual expression of interest to meet again). We show that sexual conflict at the level of preferences is translated into choice: women were most likely to choose a speed-dater 25 cm taller than themselves, whereas men were most likely to choose women only 7 cm shorter than themselves. As a consequence, matches were most likely at an intermediate height difference (19 cm) that differed significantly from the preferred height difference of both sexes. Thus, our study reveals how mutual mate choice can result in suboptimal pair formation for both sexes, highlighting the importance of assessing the mate choice process in its entirety.
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Strategic reactions to infants: Female self-presentation in a romantic context
Dina Dosmukhambetova & Antony Manstead
Evolutionary Psychology, April 2013, Pages 288-303
Abstract:
Research has demonstrated that humans engage in various self-presentational behaviours in the context of mate attraction. We build and expand on these efforts by showing that female facial behaviour also responds to the manipulation of romantic motivation in ways congruent with the logic of evolutionary theory. Given that childbearing is an important goal of human courtship, we hypothesized that during the initial stages of romantic encounters one way that women can advertize their quality is through their emotional reactions to children. Two studies were conducted to determine whether women would self-present in the context of romance by augmenting positive reactions (e.g., smiling more) or by attenuating negative reactions (e.g., frowning less). In both studies participants were undergraduate psychology students. Study 1 was an online study; it examined reported facial expressions towards and cognitive evaluations of infants. Study 2 was a laboratory study in which participants' spontaneous facial behavior was videotaped while they watched a video of infants (vs. a neutral film). In both studies we found support only for the hypothesis that, when in a romantic context, women attenuate negative reactions. Such attenuation was found for facial expressions, but not for cognitive or affective evaluations of infants.
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When Does Playing Hard to Get Increase Romantic Attraction?
Xianchi Dai, Ping Dong & Jayson Jia
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
Folk wisdom suggests playing hard to get is an effective strategy in romantic attraction. However, prior research has yielded little support for this belief. This article seeks to reconcile these contrasting views by investigating how 2 hitherto unconsidered factors, (a) the asymmetry between wanting (motivational) and liking (affective) responses and (b) the degree of psychological commitment, can determine the efficacy of playing hard to get. We propose that person B playing hard to get with person A will simultaneously increase A's wanting but decrease A's liking of B. However, such a result will only occur if A is psychologically committed to pursuing further relations with B; otherwise, playing hard to get will decrease both wanting and liking. Two studies confirm these propositions. We discuss implications for interpersonal attraction and the interplay between emotion and motivation in determining preferences.
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Ree Meertens et al.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is perceived to be less when the potential partner is sexually appealing. Is it possible that cleanliness of the room in which intercourse takes place also affects perceived risk for STIs? In scenario studies, participants were asked to imagine having had unsafe sex with a person they just met in that person's apartment (Study 1) or in a hotel room (Study 2) and that the next day they wake up in a room that is either quite dirty or very clean. Participants in the dirty room condition rated their susceptibility to STI higher, and had lower intentions to act the same way again. Results are discussed in terms of deductive processes, emotions, and magical contagion.
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The Role of Active Assortment in Spousal Similarity
David Watson, Andrew Beer & Elizabeth McDade-Montez
Journal of Personality, forthcoming
Objective: Previous research has established the existence of active assortment, that is, a preference for similarity in a potential mate. Few studies, however, have directly related mate preferences to dyadic similarity by examining them in the same participants.
Method: We collected both similarity and mate preference data in two studies: undergraduate students (N = 519) and newlyweds (N = 335).
Results: In both studies, women placed a higher value on desirable personality characteristics (e.g., higher conscientiousness and agreeableness, lower neuroticism) than did men. Nevertheless, our data also provided strong evidence of consensual mate preferences: Men and women both desired partners who were agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable, intelligent, and physically attractive; furthermore, participants desired partners who were better (e.g., more agraeeable and attractive) than they were. In contrast, attitudinal variables such as religiousness and political orientation displayed much weaker consensus, but showed significant dyadic similarity in both samples; similarity coefficients for personality tended to be positive, but lower. Finally, analyses revealed a direct link between actual and desired similarity: Couples displayed the strongest similarity on those variables for which participants expressed the strongest preference for similarity.
Conclusion: Our findings strongly suggest that active assortment is partly responsible for dyadic similarity.
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Psychological Characteristics of BDSM Practitioners
Andreas Wismeijer & Marcel van Assen
Journal of Sexual Medicine, forthcoming
Introduction: It has been generally thought that the practice of bondage-discipline, dominance-submission, sadism-masochism (BDSM) is in some form associated with psychopathology. However, several more recent studies suggest a relative good psychological health of BDSM practitioners.
Aim: The aim of this study was to compare scores of BDSM practitioners and a control group on various fundamental psychological characteristics.
Methods: For this aim, 902 BDSM and 434 control participants completely filled out online questionnaires. Associations were examined using χ2 tests of independence with φ and Cramer's V as effect size measures and eta or Pearson's correlation. Group differences were tested using analysis of covariance, with partial η2 as effect size measure. A priori contrasts were tested using α = 0.01 to correct for multiple testing; for all other tests we used α = 0.05, two tailed.
Main Outcome Measures: The study used Big Five personality dimensions (NEO Five-Factor Inventory), attachment styles (Attachment Styles Questionnaire), rejection sensitivity (Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire), and subjective well-being (World Health Organization-Five Well-being Index).
Results: The results mostly suggest favorable psychological characteristics of BDSM practitioners compared with the control group; BDSM practitioners were less neurotic, more extraverted, more open to new experiences, more conscientious, less rejection sensitive, had higher subjective well-being, yet were less agreeable. Comparing the four groups, if differences were observed, BDSM scores were generally more favorably for those with a dominant than a submissive role, with least favorable scores for controls.
Conclusion: We conclude that BDSM may be thought of as a recreational leisure, rather than the expression of psychopathological processes.