What Makes Her a Material Girl? The Influence of Childhood Economic Background and Sex Ratio on Female Preference for Male Resource Availability

Yan Wang*, Yang Qu, Bowen Hou, Qian Tian

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Drawing on life history theory, this research explores the moderating role of childhood economic background in the relationship between sex ratio and the female’s mate preference for male resource availability. Using different priming materials, three experiments consistently found that women with a rich childhood economic background showed a stable level of mate preference for good resource—this applied regardless of male- or female-biased sex ratio. But females with a poor childhood economic background showed a higher level of preference for male resource availability under the condition of female-biased sex ratio (vs. the condition of male-biased sex ratio). These findings support the moderating role of female childhood economic background in the relationship between sex ratio and their mating preference of good resources.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalEvolutionary Psychology
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2019

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by Humanities and Social Sciences Planning Project of the Ministry of Education (18YJAZH095).

Keywords

  • childhood economic background
  • life history theory
  • male resource availability
  • mating preference

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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