Confidence of paternity,divorce, and investment in children by Albuquerque men

Using a sample of men living in Albuquerque, NM, we examined the relationship between paternity confidence and men's investment in children. In humans, men may reduce their investment in a child in two ways: indirectly, by ending their relationship with the child's mother and ceasing to cohabit with the child (e.g., divorce), and directly, by allocating less time and fewer resources to the child. In this article, we tested two hypotheses regarding the effect of paternity confidence on investment in children: (1) men will be more likely to divorce women if they suspect or are sure that they are not the father of their wife's child, and (2) controlling for divorce, men will reduce direct investments in low paternity confidence children relative to high paternity confidence children. The first hypothesis was supported by the data. The second hypothesis was supported for two out of three measures of paternal investment we examined; low paternity confidence reduces the time men spend with a child in a group with other children or adults, and it reduces extensive involvement with the child's educational progress; there was no effect of paternity confidence on the amount of time men spend with children in one-on-one interactions. We also examined the effects of unstated paternity confidence (e.g., when men decline to answer the question) on divorce and paternal investment. Overall, the results suggested that paternity confidence plays an important role in shaping men's relationships with women and with their putative genetic children.     

Duration between marriage and first birth and marital instability

This paper considers whether marital instability varies by the duration between marriage and 1st birth among ever-married white and black American women. Analysis of data from the June 1985 Current Population Survey suggests that the duration between marriage and 1st birth has a generally monotonic relationship with the probability of white women separating or divorcing from their 1st marriage; the relationship has remained relatively constant over time. For blacks, no consistent association is found between marital dissolution and the duration between marriage and 1st birth. Black women having a premarital conception and postmarital birth and those having their 1st birth during their 2nd year of marriage have a similarly high risk of dissolution. Conversely, blacks having their 1st birth 8-12 or 25-42 months after marrying have a low probability of dissolution. Childless women and those with premarital births generally has the greatest probability of marital disruption for whites. Racial differences may occur because blacks view the 1st birth and marriage differently than whites. That is, because blacks are much more likely to have premarital births and to have a shorter duration between marriage and 1st birth, blacks and whites in the same 1st birth interval category may be dissimilar and have different values resulting in a differential effect of the timing of the 1st birth on marital instability by race. Caution is needed when interpreting the pattern of association between delayed childbearing (and to a lesser extent, births occuring a few years after marriage) and marital instability. Results for whites were similar at each marriage duration and it is assumed delayed childbearing was not a result of marital instability. Marital instability was expected to have its strongest effect on the timing of the 1st birth during the 1st years of marriage. Marital instability may be partially responsible for the delaying of childbearing among blacks. However, blacks who delay but are married at 1st birth have a relatively low risk of separating or divorcing.     

Height and reproductive success

In Western societies, height is positively correlated with reproductive success (RS) for men but negatively correlated with RS for women. These relationships have been attributed to sexual selection: women prefer tall men, and men prefer short women. It is this success in the marriage market which leads to higher RS for tall men and short women. We have already shown that the relationship between height and RS for women is quite different in a non-Western context. In a subsistence farming community in rural Gambia, height is positively correlated with reproductive success for women, largely owing to the higher survival of the children of tall women. Here, the relationship between height and reproductive success is analyzed for men in the same community. For these Gambian men, there is no significant relationship between height and the number of children they produce, although tall men do contract more marriages than shorter men. We conclude that environmental context needs to be taken into account when analyzing human reproductive behavior.     

Neoliberalism,Mobility and Cook Islands Men in Transit

From the 1990s, neoliberalism has been vigorously promoted by aid agencies operating in the Cook Islands. The solution to the country's economic problems has been sought in the privatisation of government assets and services and the development of free‐market principles. Social Impact Assessment reports of these reforms have included information on their effect on women and children under the heading of ‘gender’; men, however, are notably absent as a category of analysis. Building on recent work about men, masculinities and development, this paper begins to address this imbalance by examining how Cook Islands men have been effected by, and how they react to, neoliberalism in a series of gender specific ways. In particular, it explores the relationship between masculinity, class, status, and migration.     

Gender and age differences in inheritance patterns

By analyzing legacies in California from 1890 to 1984 Judge and Hrdy (1992) detected a gender-related difference: Men with children were statistically more likely to leave all of their property to a wife than were mothers to a husband. The authors argue that men were more likely than women to remarry and have additional children. Thus, in order to transfer their wealth to their mutual children, men can leave it to their wives but women can avoid risks by giving it to the children directly. This hypothesis was tested by two experiments in which subjects were asked to put themselves in the position of a person writing a will and allocate the wealth to the surviving spouse and the children. Age and sex of the heir/heiress were experimentally varied. The results support the inclusive fitness interpretation.     

Does Sexual Conflict between Mother and Father Lead to Fertility Decline?

Fertility decline is a great challenge to evolutionary approaches to human behavior. In this study, we apply the perspective of sexual conflict between mother and father to the fertility decline. We predict that, under serial monogamy allowing for mate changes, the ideal number of children for women should be smaller than that for men, because the cost of reproduction for women should be higher than that for men. Our reasoning is that if the cost of child-bearing and child-rearing is higher for women than men, and if women, who therefore would want a smaller number of children than their husbands, have gained more power in reproductive decision-making within a couple owing to the modernization of society, fertility should decline. Until now, few evolutionary studies have analyzed empirical data in modern developed societies with such a perspective. Our questionnaire survey in an urban area in Japan revealed that mothers did experience greater cost during childcare than fathers. However, in contrast to our prediction, we found no sex differences in the ideal number of children between mothers and their husbands in many cases. About 60% of parents remembered wanting two children when they were childless. Moreover, mothers and their husbands had equal power in their decision-making regarding having children. After presenting these results, we discuss some perspectives to advance our understanding of fertility decline in terms of sexual conflict.     

Gender Differences in Owners Interacting with Pet Dogs: An Observational Study

Many studies show that people form strong affectional bonds with their dogs, treating them like family members or children. The present study investigates differences between women and men owners during interactions with their dogs, in a situation designed to investigate attachment and, thus, to promote emotional and affective responses: the Ainsworth's Strange Situation. Twenty‐five dog owners, 10 men and 15 women, were observed during free interactions with their pets in an adapted version of the ‘strange situation procedure’. Their behaviour towards their pets was videorecorded. Talking to the dog was evaluated together with the occurrence of affiliative and play behaviours. The owner's level of attachment to the dog was assessed using a questionnaire. Women and men differed in the use of verbal communication. Women talked more than men and had a shorter latency in starting talking. Their utterances resembled more closely infant‐directed speech or ‘motherese’. In contrast, there were no clear gender differences in affiliative and play behaviours. Both women and men engaged in play with their dogs and provided physical comfort. No differences emerged in the level of attachment reported by women and men owners in the questionnaire. These data support the hypothesis that the behaviour of modern pet owners towards their dogs is an interspecific parental behaviour, and suggest that behaviours evolved to provide care and comfort to human infants have been co‐opted for interacting with other social partners. The difference in verbal communication between women and men is in agreement with an evolutionary scenario suggesting a greater pre‐disposition in women to use language as a relational tool.     

Sex,status, and reproductive success in the contemporary United States

This paper reexamines the relationship between status and reproductive success (at the ultimate and proximate levels) using data on sex frequency and number of biological children from representative samples of the U.S. population. An ordered probit analysis of data from the 1989–2000 General Social Survey (GSS) shows that high-income men report greater frequency of sex than all others do. An OLS regression of data from the 1994 GSS shows that high-income men have more biological children than do low-income men and high-income women. Furthermore, more educated men have more biological children than do more educated women. Results also show that intelligence decreases the number of offspring and frequency of sex for both men and women.     

Physical attractiveness and reproductive success in humans: evidence from the late 20th century United States

Physical attractiveness has been associated with mating behavior, but its role in reproductive success of contemporary humans has received surprisingly little attention. In the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (1244 women, 997 men born between 1937 and 1940), we examined whether attractiveness assessed from photographs taken at age 18 years predicted the number of biological children at age 53–56 years. In women, attractiveness predicted higher reproductive success in a nonlinear fashion, so that attractive (second highest quartile) women had 16% and very attractive (highest quartile) women 6% more children than their less attractive counterparts. In men, there was a threshold effect so that men in the lowest attractiveness quartile had 13% fewer children than others who did not differ from each other in the average number of children. These associations were partly but not completely accounted for by attractive participants' increased marriage probability. A linear regression analysis indicated relatively weak directional selection gradient for attractiveness (β=0.06 in women, β=0.07 in men). These findings indicate that physical attractiveness may be associated with reproductive success in humans living in industrialized settings.     

Sex specificity of the spatiotemporal organization of brain bioelectric potentials in adults and five- to six-year-old children in a state of quiet wakefulness

Correlation and coherence analyses of EEG recordings from 26 children aged five to seven years (12 boys and 14 girls) as compared to 33 adult subjects (18 women and 15 men) has been carried out to study the topical features of the spatial structure of EEG distant interactions. A higher level of EEG intrahemispheric interactions in the posttemporal and frontal areas of the left hemisphere has been found in men as compared to women in whom the prevalence of interhemispheric interactions due to the expressed EEG interactions in the bilaterally symmetric areas of both hemispheres has been found. A different type of sex-related differences in the systemic organization of interregional interactions of cortical potentials, as compared to adults, has been found in preschool children. In particular, a higher prevalence of EEG distant interactions has been found in those areas of the left hemisphere, the EEG interactions of which were higher in adult men. The data show that a distinct sexual dimorphism of interregional interactions of cortex potentials in adult subjects and children is formed due to the topology of the different EEG distant interactions differing in men and women. Investigations of the sex specificity of the spatiotemporal organization of brain bioelectric potentials in children can promote understanding of the sexual identity role in development of human brain systemic activity.     

Employment experiences of vocationally trained doctors.

OBJECTIVES--To investigate the expectations and employment experiences of male and female doctors who completed vocational training in East Anglia during 1981-7 and to examine the factors which had influenced those who had changed direction early in their careers. DESIGN--Survey conducted by confidential postal questionnaire. SETTING--Britain. SUBJECTS--281 doctors, 233 (83%) of whom responded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Ideal choice of work on completion of vocational training; present employment; factors which had restricted present choice of work; factors associated with reported satisfaction with job. RESULTS--77/83 (93%) men and 130/150 (87%) women had hoped to work in general practice (p = 0.75). A smaller proportion of women (71%; 106) than men (89%; 74) were in general practice posts (p less than 0.01); only 6% (nine) of women were on maternity leave or caring for children without paid employment. More women than men were working in medical jobs other than general practice (18% (27) women v 4% (three) men; p less than 0.01). 44/91 (49%) women with children had achieved their employment goals compared with 47/59 (80%) women without children and 55/71 (78%) men with children. 87% (72/83) of men and 65% (98/150) of women had achieved the status of principal (p less than 0.01). 162/193 (84%) doctors who had worked in general practice reported satisfaction with their jobs. Dissatisfaction was linked with doing a job different from that hoped for and with perceiving that the share of practice income did not accurately reflect their share of the practice workload. CONCLUSIONS--Steps need to be taken to retain women in general practice, including a statutory part time pay allowance and incentives for practices to allow flexible working hours for doctors with young children.     

Mothers and Fathers Perform More Mate Retention Behaviors than Individuals without Children

Human life history is unique among primates, most notably the extraordinary length of infant dependency and the formation of long-term pair-bonds. Men and women are motivated to remain pair-bonded to maintain the distribution of male-provisioned resources to a woman and her offspring, or to protect offspring from infanticide. Men and women can employ several strategies to retain their mate and prevent their partner from defecting from the relationship, including individual mate retention (behaviors performed alone) and coalitional mate retention (behaviors performed by a close ally). The current research investigates whether men and women with children perform more frequent mate retention behaviors than men and women without children. Participants (n = 1003) currently in a heterosexual romantic relationship completed a survey, reporting whether they had genetic children with their current romantic partner and how frequently they performed various mate retention behaviors. The results indicate that men (n = 262) and women (n = 234) who share genetic children with their current partner performed more frequent individual mate retention behaviors and requested more frequent coalitional mate retention behaviors than men (n = 280) and women (n = 227) who do not share genetic children with their current partner. The results are interpreted as they relate to hypotheses concerning the evolution of pair-bonding in humans, and mate retention behaviors more generally. Limitations of the current research are discussed, and profitable avenues for future research in this domain are suggested.     

The life histories of American stepfathers in evolutionary perspective

This paper presents an analysis of the characteristics of men who become stepfathers, and their subsequent fertility patterns and lifetime reproductive success. Because women who already have children are ranked lower in the marriage market than women without children, men who marry women with children (e.g., stepfathers) are likely to have lower rankings in the marriage market as well. Using retrospective fertility and marital histories from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), I show that men who become stepfathers have lower levels of education, less income, and are more likely to have been divorced before and to already have children, all characteristics that lower their rankings in the marriage market. Men with one or two stepchildren are just as likely to have children within a marriage as non-stepfathers, although men with three stepchildren show decreased fertility. Among men age 45 and older, stepfathers have lower lifetime fertility than non-stepfathers, although the difference disappears when men’s age at first marriage is controlled for. Additionally, stepfathers have significantly higher fertility than men who never marry. The results suggest that some men become stepfathers to procure mates and fertility benefits that they would otherwise have been unlikely to obtain; for these men, raising other men’s children serves as a form of mating effort. Preliminary versions of this paper were presented at the Evolution and Human Adaptation Program at the University of Michigan, and the Human Behavior and Evolution Society’s annual meeting at Amherst. Kermyt G. Anderson received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1999. He is currently a Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Population Studies Center of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. His current research examines the relationship between family structure, parental investment, and children’s educational and employment outcomes in South Africa.     

High income men have high value as long-term mates in the U.S.: personal income and the probability of marriage,divorce, and childbearing in the U.S.

Using data from the first Census data set that includes complete measures of male biological fertility for a large-scale probability sample of the U.S. population (the 2014 wave of the Study of Income and Program Participation-N = 55,281), this study shows that high income men are more likely to marry, are less likely to divorce, if divorced are more likely to remarry, and are less likely to be childless than low income men. Men who remarry marry relatively younger women than other men, on average, although this does not vary by personal income. For men who divorce who have children, high income is not associated with an increased probability of having children with new partners. Income is not associated with the probability of marriage for women and is positively associated with the probability of divorce. High income women are less likely to remarry after divorce and more likely to be childless than low income women. For women who divorce who have children, high income is associated with a lower chance of having children with new partners, although the relationship is curvilinear. These results are behavioral evidence that women are more likely than men to prioritize earning capabilities in a long-term mate and suggest that high income men have high value as long-term mates in the U.S.     

Parental age difference and offspring count in humans

Preferences for certain age characteristics of partners are reported across cultures: men prefer mates who are younger and women prefer mates older than themselves. To examine whether these age preferences entail fitness effects for men and women, we investigated the association among age differences between partners and offspring count. On the basis of a sample of approximately 10,000 post-reproductive Swedish men and women who did not change their partner between the birth of their first and last child, we find maximum offspring count in men if their partner is approximately 6 years younger, and in women if their partner is approximately 4 years older. We further find that after separation, on average, both men and women shift to a partner younger than the first, albeit in women the new partner is still older than the female herself. We conclude that the age preference for the partner yields fitness benefits for both men and women and may thus be an evolutionarily acquired trait.     

Making sense of sex and supplements: differences in the anticarcinogenic effects of selenium in men and women

The role of the essential trace mineral selenium in human health and disease is currently a subject of intense interest. In particular, the possible cancer preventive effects of dietary selenium supplementation are now being investigated in several large, randomized trials. The association between selenium status, genotoxic damage, and cancer risk remains enigmatic because epidemiologic studies have failed to consistently link low selenium status with increased cancer risk in men and women. In this paper, we considered the evidence that there are sex-based differences in the anticarcinogenic effects of selenium in humans. We focused our review on prospective human studies in which the relationship between selenium status and cancer risk in men and women was directly compared. Results from cohort studies conducted in seven countries (Belgium, China, Finland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, and United States) were used to assess the strength of association between low selenium status and the incidence of all cancers, sex-specific cancers, and cancers at particular anatomic sites. In general, the available data support the hypothesis that cancer risk in men is more profoundly influenced by selenium status than cancer risk in women. Factors contributing to the apparent difference in the effects of selenium on cancer incidence in men and women may include sex-based differences in the metabolism and/or tissue distribution of selenium, as well as sex- or gender-related factors that influence tumor biology. Studies are needed to further define the dose-response relationship between selenium and cancer risk in men and women. A more complete understanding of the mechanisms by which selenium modulates cancer initiation and progression is needed to optimize dietary selenium supplementation as a practical cancer preventive strategy. Ultimately, achieving the ambitious goal of cancer prevention may require sex- and gender-specific approaches.     

A gendered uprising: political representation and minority ethnic communities

This article explores the interface between gender and ethnicity in a microlevel study of a conflict which involved members of a minority ethnic community. Focusing on gender reactions to the unfolding conflict, it explores arguments raised by women in its aftermath. These arguments concern who has the right to define and represent them in public spaces in the future. The specific conflict examined took place in Bradford, UK, in 1995, and involved male Pakistani Muslim youths and the police. In the aftermath, public debate on the issue has centred on community representation in general and the role of male youth in particular. It is argued that the conflict also accelerated a process whereby Pakistani Muslim women are (re)defining intra- and inter-community relationships in the public sphere. This article affirms that the gender analysis being employed by these women to understand the events of 1995 has wider implications for the future management of plural societies, and poses a challenge to the dominance of men in creating, maintaining and managing public spaces.     

The Food of Elders, the "Ration" of Women: Brewing, Gender, and Domestic Processes among the Samburu of Northern Kenya

In recent years, many Samburu women have begun to brew beer and liquor for sale to elders—including their own husbands. Drawing on "cooperative conflict" approaches to domestic processes, the essay examines brewing in reference to the economic and cultural position of men and women within Samburu households and society at large. Focusing in particular on the issues posed to each gender by the differential control of key resources by the other—food by women and cash by men—the essay views brewing as a negotiated structure through which men and women address the particular gender-based problems they encounter in daily life. [ gender, family, brewing, Africa ]     

The nonlinear link between height and wages in Germany, 1985–2004

Based on data of the German Socio-Economic Panel, this article investigates the relationship between height and wages by gender. Unlike previous investigations, which have been limited to an examination of linear effects, this one finds that height influences on wages are curvilinear, and more so for men than for women. More specifically, it finds that women who are shorter than average and men who are somewhat taller than average, but not among the tallest, enjoy significant wage advantages. Furthermore, using Blinder's decomposition to determine two components of wage differences, we find that these differences can be partitioned into an endowment component and unexplained influences (discrimination). There is a difference between the public and private sectors and between men and women as to the degree of the latter effect. This investigation supports the hypothesis that short and very tall men employed in the private sector are disadvantaged the most. The outcome for women is less robust than for men.