Female attractiveness mediates the relationship between in-pair copulation frequency and men’s mate retention behaviors

More attractive women are more likely to be pursued as mates by men other than their long-term partner and, therefore, to place their partner at greater risk of cuckoldry (investing unwittingly in a child to whom he is genetically unrelated). Men partnered to more attractive women perform more mate...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and individual differences 2008-09, Vol.45 (4), p.293-295
Main Authors: Kaighobadi, Farnaz, Shackelford, Todd K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Female attractiveness
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
In-pair copulation
Mate retention
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sexuality. Sexual behavior
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:More attractive women are more likely to be pursued as mates by men other than their long-term partner and, therefore, to place their partner at greater risk of cuckoldry (investing unwittingly in a child to whom he is genetically unrelated). Men partnered to more attractive women perform more mate retention behaviors – behaviors designed to thwart a woman’s infidelity. With greater risk of female infidelity, men may perform additional anti-cuckoldry tactics such as frequent in-pair copulations (IPC). We secured self-reports from 277 men in a long-term relationship and investigated: (1) the relationship between female partner’s attractiveness and IPC frequency and (2) the mediating role of female partner’s attractiveness on the relationship between IPC frequency and male mate retention behaviors. The results indicated that female attractiveness: (1) predicts IPC frequency and (2) partially mediates the relationship between IPC frequency and male mate retention behaviors. The discussion addresses the mediated relationship, notes limitations of the research, and highlights directions for future research.
ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2008.04.013