Boy Meets Girl
Patrick Markey & Charlotte Markey
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
The current study examined whether or not individuals who vicariously win a competition seek out pornography relatively more often than individuals who vicariously lose a competition. By examining a portion of Google keyword searches during the 2004, 2006 and 2008 US election cycles, the relative popularity of online pornography keywords searches was computed for each state and the District of Columbia the week before and the week after each election. Consistent with the Challenge Hypothesis, following all three election cycles, individuals located in states voting for the winning political party tended to search for pornography keywords relatively more often than individuals residing in states voting for the losing political party.
------------------------
Larry Nelson, Laura Padilla-Walker & Jason Carroll
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, August 2010, Pages 136-147
Abstract:
While researchers have found a negative association between religiosity and pornography use, little, if any, research has examined the specific aspects of religiosity that might be related to the use of pornography. Therefore, the purpose of this study of religious young men was to compare those who view pornography with those who do not on indices of (a) family relationships, (b) religiosity (i.e., beliefs, past/present personal religious practices, and past family religious practices), and (c) personal characteristics (identity development, depression, self-esteem, and drug use). Participants were 192 emerging-adult men ages 18-27 (M age = 21.00, SD = 3.00) attending a religious university in the Western United States. While they all believed pornography to be unacceptable, those who did not use pornography (compared to those who did) reported (a) higher levels of past and recent individual religious practices, (b) past family religious practices, (c) higher levels of self-worth and identity development regarding dating and family, and (d) lower levels of depression.
------------------------
Red and romantic behavior in men viewing women
Daniela Niesta Kayser, Andrew Elliot & Roger Feltman
European Journal of Social Psychology, October 2010, Pages 901-908
Abstract:
In many non-human primate species, a display of red by a female increases attraction behavior in male conspecifics. In two experiments, we investigate an analogous effect in humans, specifically, whether red on a woman's shirt increases attraction behavior in men. In Experiment 1, men who viewed an ostensible conversation partner in a red versus a green shirt chose to ask her more intimate questions. In Experiment 2, men who viewed an ostensible interaction partner in a red versus a blue shirt chose to sit closer to her. These effects were observed across participants' perceptions of their own attractiveness (Experiment 1) and general activation and mood (Experiment 2). Our findings suggest that red acts as a basic, non-lexical prime, influencing reproduction-relevant behavior in like manner across species.
------------------------
Valentine Street promotes chivalrous helping
Lubomir Lamy, Jacques Fischer-Lokou & Nicolas Guéguen
Swiss Journal of Psychology, September 2010, Pages 169-172
Abstract:
In a field setting, male passersby (N = 120) were asked by a female confederate to indicate the direction of Valentine Street (Martin Street in the control group). Thirty meters ahead, the participant encountered another female confederate who asked for help, claiming that a group of four disreputable-looking male confederates had taken her mobile telephone and refused to give it back. Participants primed with the cognition of "Valentine" helped the female confederate get her mobile phone back more frequently than those primed with the cognition of "Martin." Results are explained in light of the gender role theory of helping, mood maintenance effects, and mood-elicited depth of information processing.
------------------------
Saul Miller & Jon Maner
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women's reproductive fertility peaks for a few days in the middle of their cycle around ovulation. Because conception is most likely to occur inside this brief fertile window, evolutionary theories suggest that men possess adaptations designed to maximize their reproductive success by mating with women during their peak period of fertility. In this article, we provide evidence from 3 studies that subtle cues of fertility prime mating motivation in men, thus facilitating psychological and behavioral processes associated with the pursuit of a sexual partner. In Study 1, men exposed to the scent of a woman near peak levels of fertility displayed increased accessibility to sexual concepts. Study 2 demonstrated that, among men who reported being sensitive to odors, scent cues of fertility triggered heightened perceptions of women's sexual arousal. Study 3 revealed that, in a face-to-face interaction, high levels of female fertility were associated with a greater tendency for men to make risky decisions and to behaviorally mimic a female partner. Hence, subtle cues of fertility led to a cascade of mating-related processes-from lower order cognition to overt behavior-that reflected heightened mating motivation. Implications for theories of goal pursuit, romantic attraction, and evolutionary psychology are discussed.
------------------------
Parental Consent for Abortion and the Judicial Bypass Option in Arkansas: Effects and Correlates
Ted Joyce
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, September 2010, Pages 168-175
Context: In 2005, Arkansas changed its parental notification requirement for minors seeking an abortion to a parental consent law, under which a minor can obtain an abortion without consent after obtaining a judicial waiver.
Methods: Using state health department data on 7,463 abortions among 15-19-year-olds over the period 2001-2007, an analysis of abortion and second-trimester abortion rates among Arkansas minors relative to rates among older teenagers evaluated the influence of the 2005 change in the law. Linear and logistic regression analyses estimated the changes in rates among different age-groups, and assessed the likelihood of minors' using the bypass procedure or having a second-trimester abortion.
Results: No association was found between the change in the law and either the abortion rate or the second-trimester abortion rate among minors in the state. Ten percent of all abortions among minors were obtained through the judicial bypass procedure, and minors aged 15 or younger who had an abortion were less likely than those aged 17 to get a waiver (odds ratio, 0.2). Minors who used the bypass option were less likely than those who obtained parental consent to have a second-trimester abortion (0.5), and they terminated the pregnancy 1.1 weeks earlier, on average, than did minors who had gotten such consent.
Conclusions: States that convert a parental notification statute to a parental consent statute are unlikely to experience a decrease in abortions among minors.
------------------------
Neighborhood Poverty, Aspirations and Expectations, and Initiation of Sex
Catherine Cubbin, Claire Brindis, Sonia Jain, John Santelli & Paula Braveman
Journal of Adolescent Health, October 2010, Pages 399-406
Background: Cross-sectional research has demonstrated associations between neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics and adolescents' initiation of heterosexual intercourse. Prospective designs are needed to move toward causal inference, and to identify mediating and moderating influences to inform policies and programs.
Methods: Among 5,838 nonsexually active participants in wave I (1994-1995) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, multilevel logistic regression analyses were used to predict initiation of sex by wave II (1996); models were stratified by gender and age group (11-14 and 15-17 yr). Predictors measured at wave I included census tract-level (neighborhood) poverty concentration, family-level income, parental education, race/ethnicity, and family structure. Adolescent college aspirations and life expectations were tested as possible mediators or moderators of the neighborhood poverty-sexual initiation association.
Results: Neighborhood poverty concentration predicted older (15-17 yr) girls' and boys' sexual initiation, after considering individual-level covariates. However, adolescent college aspirations and life expectations were not found to mediate the prediction relationship. Moderating effects were identified for girls (college aspirations) and boys (positive life expectations) in high-poverty neighborhoods, paradoxically reflecting increased risk.
Conclusions: In this longitudinal study, moderating effects generally considered protective against sexual initiation were not protective or were harmful for adolescents living in high-poverty neighborhoods. Subsequent research to understand how to reduce the health risks of living in poor neighborhoods must examine an even wider range of variables and/or use different methodologies.
------------------------
Alexander Vazsonyi & Dusty Jenkins
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, September 2010, Pages 561-568
Abstract:
Using a sample of college students (N = 904) from the "Bible Belt," this study examines the effect of religiosity and self-control on late adolescents' delay in initiating sexual intercourse or oral sex. Findings from logistic regressions provide evidence that for each one unit increase in self-control, the odds of a male remaining a virgin or of delaying oral sex increased by a factor of 1.82 and 2.84, respectively, while for females, the odds of not engaging in oral sex increased by a factor of 1.67. In addition to the effect of self-control, a one unit increase in religiosity results in the odds of a male remaining a virgin by a factor of 3.86 and 3.30, respectively. For females the odds are increased by a factor of 4.13 and 2.60, respectively. Mediation tests also provided evidence that self-control mediated the effects by religiosity on both dependent measures. Thus, both religiosity and self-control independently and additively function as key social control mechanisms that promote late adolescent health.
------------------------
Unintended Births: Patterns by Race and Ethnicity And Relationship Type
Lina Guzman, Elizabeth Wildsmith, Jennifer Manlove & Kerry Franzetta
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, September 2010, Pages 176-185
Context: Childbearing intentions vary by race and ethnicity and by relationship type. However, few studies have examined whether they differ by race and ethnicity within relationship type.
Methods: Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study were used to examine the childbearing intentions of 9,100 mothers of a cohort of children born in 2001. Multivariate and multinomial regression analyses were conducted to examine whether relationship type (married, cohabiting or neither) helps explain racial and ethnic differences in childbearing intentions and whether associations between race and ethnicity and childbearing intentions vary by relationship type.
Results: Blacks were more likely than whites to have had an unintended birth (odds ratio, 2.5); the relationship held among married (2.6), but not unmarried, mothers. For most relationship types, black mothers had higher relative risks than whites of having had an unwanted birth, rather than an intended or a mistimed one. Asian married mothers were more likely than their white counterparts to have had an unwanted, rather than intended, birth (1.9). The odds of an unintended birth were lower among foreign-born Hispanic cohabiting women than among white cohabiting women (0.6), a finding driven by the lower risk of unwanted than of other births among foreign-born Hispanics (0.3-0.5). Few differences were apparent between native-born Hispanics and white mothers.
Conclusions: Racial and ethnic differences in childbearing intentions are frequently contingent on relationship context. Differences between whites and blacks are largely attributable to married women. Assessment of childbearing intendedness among Hispanics should take nativity into account.
------------------------
Nils-Petter Lagerlöf
Journal of Economic Growth, September 2010, Pages 235-262
Abstract:
This paper proposes a theory of institutionally imposed monogamy. In a society where many women are allocated to the elite, there are high returns for the non-elite men to rebel. Monogamy, or "constrained" polygyny, can pacify non-elite men, and thus serve the elite's reproductive interests. The more unequal is the society, the stricter constraints the elite want to impose on themselves. This suggests how monogamy might have arisen in response to rising class cleavages, e.g., in the wake of the introduction of agriculture. Another result is that, if the elite can write a law that commits not only themselves but also any group that would come to replace them in a rebellion, then polygyny will be more constrained than if they cannot. We speculate that the Church in Europe may have facilitated the imposition of such binding constraints.
------------------------
Fertility in the cycle predicts women's interest in sexual opportunism
Steven Gangestad, Randy Thornhill & Christine Garver-Apgar
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research over the past decade has documented clear, robust changes in women's sexual preferences and interests across the ovarian cycle. When fertile, women are particularly attracted to a number of masculine male features (e.g., masculine faces, voices, scents and bodies) and other traits, and especially when they evaluate men's "sexiness" rather than their attractiveness as long-term partners. The current research extended this line of research by examining changes in women's self-reported sexual interests across the cycle. We asked 68 normally ovulating women in committed romantic relationships to fill out questionnaires about their sexual preferences and interests (at that time, not in general) twice across their cycles: once when fertile and once during the luteal phase. Relative to during the luteal phase, fertile women expressed (a) greater emphasis on the physical attractiveness of a partner; (b) greater arousal at the sight or thought of attractive male bodily features; (c) greater willingness to engage in and interest in sex with attractive men, even ones who they do not know well (interest in sexual opportunism). These findings importantly extend our understanding of women's fertile-phase sexuality.
------------------------
Aletha Akers, Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, Sonya Borrero & Giselle Corbie-Smith
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, September 2010, Pages 160-167
Context: Parent-adolescent communication is associated with increased adolescent contraceptive use. However, studies of this association are limited by their lack of examination of the communication process, reliance on cross-sectional designs and infrequent comparison of parent and adolescent perspectives. Examining communication in black families is particularly important, given the high pregnancy rate among black adolescents.
Methods: Between December 2007 and March 2008, a total of 21 focus groups were conducted with 53 black families (68 parents and 57 adolescents) in Pennsylvania. Separate groups were held for males and females, and for parents and adolescents. The discussion guide explored family communication about sexual health topics, including contraception, family planning and abortion. Sessions were audio-recorded; data were transcribed and analyzed using a grounded theory approach to content analysis and the constant comparison method.
Results: Five key themes emerged among both parents and adolescents. First, discussions about contraception were indirect and framed in terms of the need to avoid negative consequences of sex. Second, contraceptive knowledge was low. Third, parents more often reported helping male adolescents get condoms than helping females get contraceptives. Fourth, discussions emphasized planning for the future over contraception. Finally, negative attitudes toward abortion were prevalent.
Conclusions: Parent-adolescent communication interventions should improve contraceptive knowledge, help parents understand the harmful effects of gender biases in information dissemination, and provide mothers and fathers with communication skills tailored to enhance the role they play in their adolescents' sexual development.
------------------------
William McKibbin, Vincent Bates, Todd Shackelford, Christopher Hafen & Craig LaMunyon
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Sperm competition occurs when the sperm of multiple males concurrently occupy a female's reproductive tract and compete for fertilization. Sperm competition may have been a recurrent adaptive problem over human evolutionary history (Shackelford & Pound, 2006). Women's orgasm may facilitate selective uptake and retention of a particular man's sperm (Thornhill & Gangestad, 2008). Men who are more satisfied with and invested in their relationship may experience greater costs in the event of sperm competition and potential cuckoldry. Therefore, these men may be especially interested in ensuring their partner's copulatory orgasm. We hypothesized that men's relationship satisfaction and investment would predict interest in their partner's copulatory orgasm, and that sperm competition risk would moderate the association between relationship satisfaction and interest in partner's copulatory orgasm. Using structural equation modeling on self-report data secured from 229 men in a committed heterosexual relationship, we tested and found support for these hypotheses.
------------------------
Behavior and Symptom Change Among Women Treated with Placebo for Sexual Dysfunction
Andrea Bradford & Cindy Meston
Journal of Sexual Medicine, forthcoming
Introduction: In clinical trials of drug treatments for women's sexual dysfunction, placebo responses have often been substantial. However, little is known about the clinical significance, specificity, predictors, and potential mechanisms of placebo response in sexual dysfunction.
Aim: We aimed to determine the nature and predictors of sexual function outcomes in women treated with placebo for female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD).
Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the placebo arm of a 12-week, multisite, randomized controlled pharmaceutical trial for FSAD (N = 50). We analyzed the magnitude, domain specificity, and clinical significance of sexual function scores at baseline, 4, 8, and 12 weeks (post-treatment). We examined longitudinal change in sexual function outcomes as a function of several baseline variables (e.g., age, symptom-related distress) and in relation to changes in sexual behavior frequency during the trial.
Main Outcome Measure: Female Sexual Function Index total score.
Results: The magnitude of change at post-treatment was clinically significant in approximately one-third of placebo recipients. Effect sizes were similar across multiple aspects of sexual function. Symptom improvement was strongly related to the frequency of satisfying sexual encounters during treatment. However, the relationship between sexual encounter frequency and outcome varied significantly between participants.
Conclusions: A substantial number of women experienced clinically significant improvement in sexual function during treatment with placebo. Changes in sexual behavior during the trial, more so than participant age or symptom severity at baseline, appeared to be an important determinant of outcome. Contextual and procedural aspects of the clinical trial may have influenced outcomes in the absence of an active drug treatment.
------------------------
Partner Age Differences, Educational Contexts And Adolescent Female Sexual Activity
Sarah Koon-Magnin, Derek Kreager & Barry Ruback
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, September 2010, Pages 206-213
Context: Research suggesting that female teenagers who date substantially older males are at increased risk for negative health outcomes supports the need for statutory rape laws. However, prior research has generally ignored the social context of adolescence when examining the risks associated with dating an older partner.
Methods: Data from Waves 1 (1995) and 2 (1996) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to model the occurrence of sexual intercourse within adolescent heterosexual romantic relationships. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the predictors of sexual intercourse among 4,266 romantically involved female students aged 12-18.
Results: Female students with male partners three or more years their senior had higher odds of engaging in sexual intercourse than female students with partners closer to their age (odds ratio, 1.5). However, the association between having an older partner and the risk of sexual intercourse was nonsignificant for females older than 16. Moreover, when male partners' school status was taken into account, the relationship was no longer significant. Female students with partners who had exited school had elevated odds of having had intercourse compared with females who dated partners in the same school (1.8).
Conclusions: These findings challenge statutory rape laws' focus on age, given that the association between educational context and sexual risk overrides the association between partner age and sexual risk.
------------------------
Development of Social Variation in Reproductive Schedules: A Study from an English Urban Area
Daniel Nettle & Maria Cockerill
PLoS ONE, September 2010, e12690
Background: There is striking social variation in the timing of the onset of childbearing in contemporary England, with the mean age at first motherhood about 8 years earlier in the most deprived compared to the least deprived neighbourhoods. However, relatively little is known about how these social differences in reproductive schedule develop in childhood.
Methodology/Principal Findings: We studied the development of differences in reproductive schedules, using a cross-sectional survey over 1000 school students aged 9-15 in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside. Students from more deprived neighbourhoods had earlier ideal ages for parenthood than those from more affluent ones, and these differences were fully apparent by age 11. We found evidence consistent with three mechanisms playing a role in maintaining the socioeconomic gradient. These were: vertical intergenerational transmission (students whose own parents were younger at their birth wanted children younger); oblique intergenerational transmission (students in neighbourhoods where parents were younger in general wanted children earlier); and low parental investment (students who did not feel emotionally supported by their own parents wanted children at a younger age).
Conclusions/Significance: Our results shed some light on the proximate factors which may be involved in maintaining early childbearing in disadvantaged communities. They help understand why educational initiatives aimed at adolescents tend to have no effect, whereas improving the well-being of poor families with young children may do so. Our results also suggest that there will be considerable intergenerational inertia in the response of reproductive schedules to changing socioecological conditions.
------------------------
Early Adolescent Sexual Initiation as a Problem Behavior: A Comparative Study of Five Nations
Aubrey Madkour, Tilda Farhat, Carolyn Halpern, Emmanuelle Godeau & Saoirse Gabhainn
Journal of Adolescent Health, October 2010, Pages 389-398
Purpose: Using a Problem Behavior Theory framework, this article examines the extent to which psychosocial correlates of early sexual initiation (before age 16) vary across developed nations.
Methods: Fifteen-year-old participants (n = 5,624) in the 1997-1998 World Health Organization collaborative Health Behavior in School-Aged Children survey (Finland, Scotland, France, and Poland) and the 1996 U.S. Add Health survey self-reported substance use (alcohol and tobacco), school attachment, positive parental communication, and early sexual intercourse experience. Stratifying by gender, we performed univariate, bivariate, and multivariable analyses controlling for family socioeconomic status, family structure, and nation fixed effects.
Results: Self-reported early sexual experience, substance use, school attachment, and positive communication with parents varied significantly across nations for both boys and girls. In both crude and adjusted analyses, substance use was positively associated with early sexual experience among boys and girls across nations, although associations were stronger in Europe than in the United States (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]; range, 1.56-3.74). School attachment was similarly inversely related to early sexual experience among boys and girls across nations (AOR range, .63-.94). However, positive parent communication was significantly inversely related to early sexual experience only among U.S. females (AOR .50).
Conclusions: Findings overall supported the fit of early adolescent sexual initiation as a risk behavior within a Problem Behavior Theory framework cross-nationally, suggesting that similar factors could be targeted to prevent early sexual initiation across some developed nations. However, further research is warranted examining the temporality of these relationships.