Effect of Childhood Victimization on Occupational Prestige and Income Trajectories

BackgroundViolence toward children (childhood victimization) is a major public health problem, with long-term consequences on economic well-being. The purpose of this study was to determine whether childhood victimization affects occupational prestige and income in young adulthood. We hypothesized that young adults who experienced more childhood victimizations would have less prestigious jobs and lower incomes relative to those with no victimization history. We also explored the pathways in which childhood victimization mediates the relationships between background variables, such as parent’s educational impact on the socioeconomic transition into adulthood.MethodsA nationally representative sample of 8,901 young adults aged 18–28 surveyed between 1999–2009 from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY) were analyzed. Covariate-adjusted multivariate linear regression and path models were used to estimate the effects of victimization and covariates on income and prestige levels and on income and prestige trajectories. After each participant turned 18, their annual 2002 Census job code was assigned a yearly prestige score based on the 1989 General Social Survey, and their annual income was calculated via self-reports. Occupational prestige and annual income are time-varying variables measured from 1999–2009. Victimization effects were tested for moderation by sex, race, and ethnicity in the multivariate models.ResultsApproximately half of our sample reported at least one instance of childhood victimization before the age of 18. Major findings include 1) childhood victimization resulted in slower income and prestige growth over time, and 2) mediation analyses suggested that this slower prestige and earnings arose because victims did not get the same amount of education as non-victims.ConclusionsResults indicated that the consequences of victimization negatively affected economic success throughout young adulthood, primarily by slowing the growth in prosperity due to lower education levels.     

Dominance and prestige as differential predictors of aggression and testosterone levels in men

The relationship between self-esteem and aggression has yielded mixed results and generated much recent debate in the social psychology literature. Based on an evolutionary-psychological theory of self-esteem, Kirkpatrick et al. [Kirkpatrick, L. A., Waugh, C. E., Valencia, A., Webster, G., 2002. The functional domain-specificity of self-esteem and the differential prediction of aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 825, 756–767] showed that multiple, functionally distinct self-esteem mechanisms predict aggression differentially: e.g., “self-perceived superiority” is positively related, and “social inclusion” inversely related, to behavioral aggression. The present study extends this research by further differentiating two distinct forms of “superiority,” dominance and prestige [Henrich, J., Gil-White, F. J. 2001. The evolution of prestige: Freely conferred deference as a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of cultural transmission. Evolution and Human Behavior 22, 165–196], in the prediction of aggression in men and women and testosterone levels (measured in saliva samples) in men. Dominance was positively related, but prestige was either unrelated or inversely related, to self-report aggression measures. Dominance was unrelated but prestige inversely related to testosterone levels in men, perhaps suggesting a method of testosterone inhibition in individuals attaining prestige-based superiority. In addition to contributing to the growing literature on the aggression–self-esteem link, the results provide validation for the prestige–dominance distinction and support, but also suggest an important refinement to, a theory of self-esteem as a collection of functionally distinct adaptations.     

Social Class and BMI Among Canadian Adults: A Focus on Occupational Prestige

The objective was to examine BMI of working‐age Canadian adults in relation to occupational prestige, adjusting for other aspects of social class including household income and respondent's education. We analyzed data from 49,252 adults (age 25–64) from Cycle 2.1 of the Canadian Community Health Survey, a cross‐sectional self‐report survey conducted in 2003. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the relation between BMI and occupational prestige, adjusting for other sociodemographic variables. For women, higher ranking occupations showed lower average BMI relative to the lowest ranking occupations, but this effect was largely eliminated when adjusting for education. For men, occupation effects endured in adjusted models and we detected some evidence of a pattern whereby men in occupations characterized by management/supervisory responsibilities were heavier than those in the lowest ranking occupations (i.e., elemental sales and service). Results are interpreted in light of the symbolic value of body size in western culture, which differs for men and women. Men in positions of management/supervision may benefit from the physical dominance conveyed by a larger body size, and thus occupational prestige rankings may help us to understand the gender differences in the patterning of BMI by different indicators of social class.     

The Big Man Mechanism: how prestige fosters cooperation and creates prosocial leaders

Anthropological evidence from diverse societies suggests that prestige-based leadership may provide a foundation for cooperation in many contexts. Here, inspired by such ethnographic observations and building on a foundation of existing research on the evolution of prestige, we develop a set of formal models to explore when an evolved prestige psychology might drive the cultural evolution of n-person cooperation, and how such a cultural evolutionary process might create novel selection pressures for genes that make prestigious individuals more prosocial. Our results reveal (i) how prestige can foster the cultural emergence of cooperation by generating correlated behavioural phenotypes, both between leaders and followers, and among followers; (ii) why, in the wake of cultural evolution, natural selection favours genes that make prestigious leaders more prosocial, but only when groups are relatively small; and (iii), why the effectiveness of status differences in generating cooperation in large groups depends on cultural transmission (and not primarily on deference or coercion). Our theoretical framework, and the specific predictions made by these models, sketch out an interdisciplinary research programme that cross-cuts anthropology, biology, psychology and economics. Some of our predictions find support from laboratory work in behavioural economics and are consistent with several real-world patterns.     

Is There a Lag Globally in Overweight Trends for Children Compared with Adults?

Objective: To determine relative trends in prevalence for overweight for adults compared with children across high‐income countries (Australia, United Kingdom, and United States), middle‐income countries (Brazil and Russia), and low‐income countries (China and Indonesia). Research Methods and Procedures: Extant nationally representative survey data from 1971 to the present are used. Prevalence of overweight for adults ≥18.0 years of age and children 6.0 to 17.9 years of age were used. Absolute and relative annual rates of change in prevalence of overweight in children and adults were the key outcomes. Results: Absolute rates of increase in overweight were higher among adults than among children in all studied countries except Australia. However, relative rates of increase in overweight indicate faster increases in overweight among children in Brazil, China, and the three high‐income countries. As a result, the relative excess of overweight among adults, seen initially in all countries, increased in Indonesia and Russia, but it decreased in Australia, Brazil, China, United Kingdom, and United States. In Brazil, time trends indicate an acceleration in the annual rate of change in overweight for children and a deceleration for adults, whereas in the United States, the increase in overweight shows acceleration for both children and adults. Discussion: In absolute terms, overweight increased faster among children than adults only in Australia; however, the relative gap between children and adults is closing in four additional countries, Brazil, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States.     

The perceived benefits of height: strength, dominance, social concern, and knowledge among Bolivian native Amazonians

Research in industrial countries suggests that, with no other knowledge about a person, positive traits are attributed to taller people and correspondingly, that taller people have slightly better socioeconomic status (SES). However, research in some non-industrialized contexts has shown no correlation or even negative correlations between height and socioeconomic outcomes. It remains unclear whether positive traits remain attributed to taller people in such contexts. To address this question, here we report the results of a study in a foraging-farming society of native Amazonians in Bolivia (Tsimane')--a group in which we have previously shown little association between height and socioeconomic outcomes. We showed 24 photographs of pairs of Tsimane' women, men, boys, and girls to 40 women and 40 men >16 years of age. We presented four behavioral scenarios to each participant and asked them to point to the person in the photograph with greater strength, dominance, social concern, or knowledge. The pairs in the photographs were of the same sex and age, but one person was shorter. Tsimane' women and men attributed greater strength, dominance, and knowledge to taller girls and boys, but they did not attribute most positive traits to taller adults, except for strength, and more social concern only when women assessed other women in the photographs. These results raise a puzzle: why would Tsimane' attribute positive traits to tall children, but not tall adults? We propose three potential explanations: adults' expectations about the more market integrated society in which their children will grow up, height as a signal of good child health, and children's greater variation in the traits assessed corresponding to maturational stages.     

Allofeeding in Arabian Babblers (Turdoides squamiceps)

Allofeeding is a common social display among adult Arabian babblers (Turdoides squamiceps). The sociology and rates of allofeeding were studied with a tame population of babblers at the Shezaf Nature Reserve in the Rift Valley, Israel. Allofeeding rate varies with the season and food availability. Experimental supplementation to the whole group or to certain individuals greatly increased the rate of allofeeding, but it did not change the social order of the interactions. The interactions were almost always unidirectional: the donor allofed an individual lower in rank. Most of the few exceptions were reciprocal allofeeding among pairs of low-ranking individuals, correlated with a change in dominance between a young male and a young female. Higher-ranking individuals sometimes interfered with allofeedings by lower-ranking ones, and receivers frequently refused to accept the food offered. Allofeeding may therefore be considered as a display of dominance. However, as dominance rank rarely changes, except in very young birds, we suggest that allofeeding interactions display the prestige of the donors, that is, the degree of dominance of one individual over the other.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at .     

Formation of linear dominance relationship in captive jungle crows (Corvus macrorhynchos): implications for individual recognition

Jungle crows (Corvus macrorhynchos) flexibly change their social forms depending on their age, time of the day, and the season. In the daytime, paired adults behave territorially and unpaired subadults form small flocks of ten birds, whereas at night hundreds of birds roost together. In the breeding season, pairings remain in their nest all day. This fission-fusion raises questions about the underlying social structure and the cognitive capability of jungle crows. In this study, dyadic encounters were used to investigate dominance relationships (linear or non-linear) and the underlying mechanisms in captive jungle crows. Fourteen crows were tested in 455 encounters (i.e., 5 encounters per dyad), and a stable linear dominance relationship emerged. Sex and aggressiveness were determinants as individual characteristics for dominance formation. Males dominated females, and more aggressive individuals dominated less aggressive ones. Aggressive interactions in dyads occurred primarily during the first encounter and drastically declined during subsequent encounters without any signs of a confidence effect. These results suggest that, in captive jungle crow, a linear form of dominance is intrinsically determined by sex and aggressiveness and maintained extrinsically by memories of past outcomes associated with specific individuals, implying individual recognition.     

Cheater Detection is Modified by Social Rank: The Impact of Dominance on the Evolution of Cognitive Functions

Cheater detection plays a crucial role in biologial and psychological theories of the evolution of cooperation and reciprocity. Here it is argued that cheater detection plays a broader role in social coordination as a fundamental, primitive cognitive adaptation to dominance hierarchies. In functional terms, dominance means that certain individuals have priority of access to resources in competitive situations. In cognitive terms, dominance hierarchies constitute a set of social norms that reflect which behaviors are permitted, prohibited, or obligated given one's rank. In order to maintain priority of access to resources, dominant individuals monitor the behavior of subordinates and aggress against those who “cheat” (violate social norms). An implication of this analysis is that higher-ranking individuals should be more likely to detect cheating in lower-ranking individuals than vice versa. Two experiments are described that support this prediction. In the first experiment, people were far more likely to look for cheaters when monitoring compliance of lower-ranking individuals on a social norm reasoning task than higher- or equal-ranking individuals. In the second, the same result obtained when reasoners were required to switch perspectives: More cheater detection was observed when reasoners adopted a high-ranking than a low-ranking perspective.     

Testosterone and cortisol jointly regulate dominance: Evidence for a dual-hormone hypothesis

Traditional theories propose that testosterone should increase dominance and other status-seeking behaviors, but empirical support has been inconsistent. The present research tested the hypothesis that testosterone's effect on dominance depends on cortisol, a glucocorticoid hormone implicated in psychological stress and social avoidance. In the domains of leadership (Study 1, mixed-sex sample) and competition (Study 2, male-only sample), testosterone was positively related to dominance, but only in individuals with low cortisol. In individuals with high cortisol, the relation between testosterone and dominance was blocked (Study 1) or reversed (Study 2). Study 2 further showed that these hormonal effects on dominance were especially likely to occur after social threat (social defeat). The present studies provide the first empirical support for the claim that the neuroendocrine reproductive (HPG) and stress (HPA) axes interact to regulate dominance. Because dominance is related to gaining and maintaining high status positions in social hierarchies, the findings suggest that only when cortisol is low should higher testosterone encourage higher status. When cortisol is high, higher testosterone may actually decrease dominance and in turn motivate lower status.     

The dining etiquette of desert baboons: the roles of social bonds, kinship, and dominance in co-feeding networks

To better understand how individual relationships influence patterns of social foraging in primate groups, we explored networks of co-feeding in wild desert baboons (Papio ursinus). To minimize the risk of aggression and injury associated with contest competition, we expected that individual group members would choose to co-feed with those group-mates that are most likely to show tolerance and a willingness to share food patches. We tested two alternative hypotheses about who those group-mates might be: the "social bonds hypothesis" predicts that preferred foraging partners will be those with whom individuals share strong social bonds, indexed by grooming, whereas the "kinship hypothesis" predicts that preferred foraging partners will be relatives. We also investigated and controlled for the effects of dominance rank, given that competitive ability is known to shape foraging patterns. Social network analyses of over 5,000 foraging events for 14 adults in a single troop revealed that baboon co-feeding was significantly correlated with grooming relationships but not genetic relatedness, and this finding was also true of the female-only co-feeding network. Dominant individuals were also found to be central to the co-feeding network, frequently sharing food patches with multiple group-mates. This polyadic analysis of foraging associations between individuals underlines the importance of dominance and affiliation to patterns of primate social foraging.     

Testosterone and cortisol jointly regulate dominance: Evidence for a dual-hormone hypothesis

Traditional theories propose that testosterone should increase dominance and other status-seeking behaviors, but empirical support has been inconsistent. The present research tested the hypothesis that testosterone's effect on dominance depends on cortisol, a glucocorticoid hormone implicated in psychological stress and social avoidance. In the domains of leadership (Study 1, mixed-sex sample) and competition (Study 2, male-only sample), testosterone was positively related to dominance, but only in individuals with low cortisol. In individuals with high cortisol, the relation between testosterone and dominance was blocked (Study 1) or reversed (Study 2). Study 2 further showed that these hormonal effects on dominance were especially likely to occur after social threat (social defeat). The present studies provide the first empirical support for the claim that the neuroendocrine reproductive (HPG) and stress (HPA) axes interact to regulate dominance. Because dominance is related to gaining and maintaining high status positions in social hierarchies, the findings suggest that only when cortisol is low should higher testosterone encourage higher status. When cortisol is high, higher testosterone may actually decrease dominance and in turn motivate lower status.     

Preservation of winter social dominance status in Brent Geese Branta bernicla bernicla within and across winters

Dominant and subordinate individuals in a group may benefit from the stability of the social dominance organisation, avoiding excessive waste of time and energy in aggressive interactions and reducing injury risks. Nevertheless, the likely evolutionary incentive for individuals to become, and furthermore to stay, dominant may destabilise such dominance hierarchies. In this context, the relative importance of fixed (e.g. sex, morphological size) and fluctuating (e.g. body condition, mating status, reproductive success, social unit size) traits influencing the establishment and preservation of dominance relationships could play a key role in group structure. We investigated the relative role of fixed and fluctuating traits on social status in Dark-bellied Brent Geese Branta bernicla bernicla which form large fairly unstable groups both within and across winters. We compared individual dominance scores of ringed Brent Geese during four consecutive winters. Brent Geese conserved their dominance score within a given winter irrespective of their age but were generally unable to conserve it across consecutive winters. As winter dominance scores correlated best with social unit size, dominance status thus appeared to be mostly a by-product of a fluctuating trait: breeding success in the previous summer. When we considered only adults that had the same social unit size during two consecutive winters, we observed a significant preservation of dominance scores. This result suggests that a fixed trait such as sex or morphological size may still play a role in setting dominance status.     

Prestige-biased cultural learning: bystander's differential attention to potential models influences children's learning

Reasoning about the evolution of our species' capacity for cumulative cultural learning has led culture-gene coevolutionary (CGC) theorists to predict that humans should possess several learning biases which robustly enhance the fitness of cultural learners. Meanwhile, developmental psychologists have begun using experimental procedures to probe the learning biases that young children actually possess — a methodology ripe for testing CGC. Here we report the first direct tests in children of CGC's prediction of prestige bias, a tendency to learn from individuals to whom others have preferentially attended, learned or deferred. Our first study showed that the odds of 3- and 4-year-old children learning from an adult model to whom bystanders had previously preferentially attended for 10 seconds (the prestigious model) were over twice those of their learning from a model whom bystanders ignored. Moreover, this effect appears domain-sensitive: in Study 2 when bystanders preferentially observed a prestigious model using artifacts, she was learned from more often on subsequent artifact-use tasks (odds almost five times greater) but not on food-preference tasks, while the reverse was true of a model who received preferential bystander attention while expressing food preferences.     

The Cultural Dynamics of Copycat Suicide

The observation that suicides sometimes cluster in space and/or time has led to suggestions that these clusters are caused by the social learning of suicide-related behaviours, or “copycat suicides”. Point clusters are clusters of suicides localised in both time and space, and have been attributed to direct social learning from nearby individuals. Mass clusters are clusters of suicides localised in time but not space, and have been attributed to the dissemination of information concerning celebrity suicides via the mass media. Here, agent-based simulations, in combination with scan statistic methods for detecting clusters of rare events, were used to clarify the social learning processes underlying point and mass clusters. It was found that social learning between neighbouring agents did generate point clusters as predicted, although this effect was partially mimicked by homophily (individuals preferentially assorting with similar others). The one-to-many transmission dynamics characterised by the mass media were shown to generate mass clusters, but only where social learning was weak, perhaps due to prestige bias (only copying prestigious celebrities) and similarity bias (only copying similar models) acting to reduce the subset of available models. These findings can help to clarify and formalise existing hypotheses and to guide future empirical work relating to real-life copycat suicides.     

Pride,personality, and the evolutionary foundations of human social status

Based on evolutionary logic, Henrich and Gil-White [Evolution and Human Behavior, 22(3), 165–196] distinguished between two routes to attaining social status in human societies: dominance, based on intimidation, and prestige, based on the possession of skills or expertise. Independently, emotion researchers Tracy and Robins [Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(3), 506–525] demonstrated two distinct forms of pride: hubristic and authentic. Bridging these two lines of research, this paper examines whether hubristic and authentic pride, respectively, may be part of the affective-motivational suite of psychological adaptations underpinning the status-obtaining strategies of dominance and prestige. Support for this hypothesis emerged from two studies employing self-reports (Study 1), and self-and peer-reports of group members on collegiate athletic teams (Study 2). Results from both studies showed that hubristic pride is associated with dominance, whereas authentic pride is associated with prestige. Moreover, the two facets of pride are part of a larger suite of distinctive psychological traits uniquely associated with dominance or prestige. Specifically, dominance is positively associated with traits such as narcissism, aggression, and disagreeableness, whereas prestige is positively associated with traits such as genuine self-esteem, agreeableness, conscientiousness, achievement, advice-giving, and prosociality. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for our understanding of the evolutionary origins of pride and social status, and the interrelations among emotion, personality, and status attainment.     

Behavioural dominance and reproductive success in female Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata)

Eight years of reproductive data (including 248 births) from a translocated troop of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) living in a 42-ha enclosure provided three measures of female reproductive success: fecundity, survival of infants to 1 year of age, and age at first parturition. No significant relationship was found between social dominance and these measures. Social dominance was considered with respect to both matrilineal and individual female rank. Additional data on female dominance ranks over four generations of adult females revealed no significant concordance over time. The finding that ranks may not be stable over the lifetime of a female is a significant one because the variation in reproductive success among the females of a group is likely to be further diminished by any instability. For 34 females that were adults for the 8-year period considered, there was no significant correlation between the average rank of a female and either fecundity or survivorship of infants to 1 year of age. These data considered along with the results of other studies of female dominance and reproduction suggest that any effect of female social dominance on reproductive success is probably dependent upon resource availability, with significant benefits accruing to high-ranking individuals only during subsistence periods. It is suggested that dominance competition among female macaques may be a behavioural strategy with a variable payoff.     

Living and Robotic Dogs as Elicitors of Social Communication Behavior and Regulated Emotional Responding in Individuals with Autism and Severe Language Delay: A Preliminary Comparative Study

The inclusion of animals and robots in therapeutic interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has become more common. This study provides a first comparison between the potential of living versus robotic dogs to elicit social communication behavior and regulated emotional responses in individuals with ASD. Ten children and thirteen adults with ASD and severe lan- guage delay were tested for appropriate social communication behavior and cardiac autonomic functioning during a planned, structured interaction with an experimenter alone (no-stimulus condition), an experimenter accompanied by a living dog (dog condition), and an experimenter accompanied by a robotic dog (robot condition). A within-subjects design was followed to expose all participants to all three experimental conditions. Overall, participants (children and adults) showed a higher percentage of appropriate social behaviors in Living and Robotic Dogs as Elicitors of Social Communication Behavior and Regulated Emotional?…?the dog and the robot conditions than in the no-stimulus condition. In children, the living dog was more effective than the robotic dog in promoting social communication behavior. In adults, no such difference was found between the dog and the robot condition. Only the dog appeared to elicit a positive effect in cardiac autonomic functioning by increasing heart rate variability (HRV) and buffer- ing the decrease in parasympathetic activity due to interaction with the experimenter. The data are preliminary but relevant and warrant replication in larger-scale studies.     

Speciesism Predicts Prejudice Against Low-Status and Hierarchy-Attenuating Human Groups

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that attitudes toward nonhuman animals correlate with attitudes toward disadvantaged human groups. It has been suggested that the connection rests in the ideology of social dominance. Endorsement of social hierarchy and intergroup domination is thought to extend to both human intergroup and human– animal contexts. The present research tested this reasoning by examining the scope and basis of the relation between speciesism and human inter-group attitudes. It was hypothesized that speciesism would predict less positive attitudes toward low-status groups (e.g., disadvantaged ethnic minorities) and those who support social change (e.g., feminists) but that it would be uncorrelated with attitudes toward stigmatized groups that are unmarked by social status (e.g., atheists). Two studies (Study 1, n = 98; Study 2, n = 82) tested this prediction using survey measures of speciesism, social dominance orientation, and attitudes toward 31 human groups including those noted above. Participants were first- and second-year university students in a mid-sized university in Ontario, Canada. As hypothesized, in both studies speciesism predicted less positive attitudes primarily toward low-status groups and groups that support social change. Further, relations between speciesism and intergroup attitudes were explained by their shared connection with social dominance orientation. These data contribute to the growing body of evidence showing links between speciesism and prejudice by illustrating that their shared emphasis on support for social hierarchy gives rise to a specific pattern of intergroup attitudes—one that supports inequality.     

Social class as a risk factor for infant mortality in an Australian population

Studies in other countries have identified social class as a risk factor for infant mortality. In Australia there is no systematic collection of population data by social class, partly due to the absence of a recognized measure. The use of occupational prestige as an indicator of social class is discussed and Australian prestige scales reviewed. In a population based study, logistic regression analysis of infant mortality in an Australian (NSW) population shows the effects of social class on infant mortality which remain when maternal age, marital status and parity are controlled.