For The Company
Incel Activity on Social Media Linked to Local Mating Ecology
Robert Brooks, Daniel Russo-Batterham & Khandis Blake
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Young men with few prospects of attracting a mate have historically threatened the internal peace and stability of societies. In some contemporary societies, such involuntary celibate - or incel - men promote much online misogyny and perpetrate real-world violence. We tested the prediction that online incel activity arises via local real-world mating-market forces that affect relationship formation. From a database of 4 billion Twitter posts (2012-2018), we geolocated 321 million tweets to 582 commuting zones in the continental United States, of which 3,649 tweets used words peculiar to incels and 3,745 were about incels. We show that such tweets arise disproportionately within places where mating competition among men is likely to be high because of male-biased sex ratios, few single women, high income inequality, and small gender gaps in income. Our results suggest a role for social media in monitoring and mitigating factors that lead young men toward antisocial behavior in real-world societies.
You Mean the World to Me: The Role of Residential Mobility in Centrality of Romantic Relationships
Cansu Yilmaz et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Integrating the suffocation model of marriage with research on residential mobility, the current studies examined for the first time whether long-term romantic relationships are more central for residentially mobile (vs. stable) individuals (total N across three studies = 5,366; age range = 18-95). In Study 1, individuals who moved away from their place of birth (vs. not) were more likely to first confide in their spouse over other network members on important matters. In Study 2, history of frequent residential moves was associated with greater importance ascribed to romantic partners in the attachment hierarchy. In Study 3, the slope of perceived partner responsiveness predicting eudaimonic well-being got steeper as residential mobility increased. By showing the role of residential mobility in romantic relationships, our findings highlight the importance of studying socioecological factors to gain a deeper understanding of how relationship processes unfold.
Contemporary selection pressures in modern societies? Which factors best explain variance in human reproduction and mating?
Martin Fieder & Susanne Huber
Evolution and Human Behavior, January 2022, Pages 16-25
Abstract:
Phenotypic traits in humans are under selection pressure and are still evolving, but the relative importance of these traits remains to be investigated. We therefore analyzed jointly phenotypic traits associated with number of children and having ever been married. This provides insights into the relative contribution of each trait and indicates the potential selection pressure induced by a specific trait relative to others. To shed light on potential selection on the genome level, all analyses include a multivariate polygenic risk score of general cognitive ability. We used the data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), a dataset consisting of 4991 men and 5326 women almost all whites, educated at least at A-level. The focus was on the association between age, education level, wages, religious intensity, fathers' age at child's birth, ratings of facial attractiveness, number of siblings of the respondent, as well as the polygenic risk score of general cognitive ability on the following dependent variables: i) number of children, ii) ever being married, and iii) age at first birth. For each factor we additionally examined the relative contribution to the overall variance explained of the dependent variable. Having been married and, thus, mate selection, is the most important determinant for the number of children for both men and women. Wages explain most of the total variance for "ever married", yet in different directions for men and women, as is also the case for the association between wages and number of children. In both women and men, education explains most of the variance in age at first birth, and the effect is postponing. Furthermore, although the phenotype education is negatively associated with the number of children in both sexes, this holds true for the polygenic risk score for cognitive ability only in men. In addition, in men, the polygenic risk score for cognitive ability also has a positive effect on reproduction due to its positive interaction with wages. Anyhow, with the exception of having ever been married, all other variables explain only a small proportion of the variation in fertility outcomes. Although our results are consistent with the hypothesis that there is selection pressure for rather recently arising traits as education and income, on the basis of our results we are not able to draw any final conclusion on selection.
Mate Selection Behavior of GED Recipients
Kate Choi & Brandon Wagner
Journal of Family Issues, forthcoming
Abstract:
The General Educational Development (GED) degree is designed to be a credential equivalent to the high school diploma. However, growing evidence indicates that GED recipients have worse outcomes than high school graduates. Such findings raise the question: is the GED socially equivalent to the high school diploma? Although educational assortative mating patterns have long been used as a barometer of the social distance across educational groups, there has not been a study that has addressed this question by examining the marital sorting patterns of GED recipients. Using log-linear models, our study shows that the odds of intermarriage between GED recipients and high school graduates resemble those between GED recipients and those without a secondary degree. Racial/ethnic minorities had greater difficulty crossing the GED/high school graduate boundary when they married. Our findings detract from the purported view that the GED degree is equivalent to a traditional high school diploma.
Tied Staying on the Rise? Declining Migration among Co-Breadwinner Couples in the United States, 1990s to 2010s
Matt Erickson & ChangHwan Kim
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines a possible connection between shifting gender and family norms and declining internal migration. Using data from the 1989-1998 and 2009-2018 Annual Social and Economic Supplements of the Current Population Survey, we examine whether co-breadwinner married couples have become less likely to migrate within the US relative to couples with a sole or primary breadwinner. We find a general U-shaped association between wives' share of a married couple's income and that couple's likelihood of moving across state or county lines; in both time periods, couples were least likely to move when their incomes were roughly equal. However, we find this U-shaped pattern grew more pronounced in the 2010s compared with the 1990s: Over time, co-breadwinner couples became increasingly less likely to move relative to other married couples. Given that family migration decision-making has historically been gendered, this suggests dual-career married couples have become less willing to uproot women's careers for the benefit of men's. We argue the most likely reason for this change in behavior is a shift in norms governing the gender division of labor - in particular, a shift away from the cultural model of the male breadwinner. Based on a decomposition analysis, we estimate this change explains about one-third of the overall decline in migration among married couples ages 25-39 between the 1990s and 2010s.
Diversity in the prevalence and correlates of extramarital sex in a probability sample of Latino adults
Lizette Sanchez et al.
Journal of Family Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Individuals from different Spanish-speaking countries are often combined into a single Latino group. However, this group is diverse, with immigrants and naturalized citizens coming from multiple countries. The present study was conducted to (a) examine potential differences in the annual prevalence of extramarital sex as a function of cultural group (Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, or other Latino) and nativity (born inside or outside the United States) and (b) identify explanations for any observed differences in the prevalence of extramarital sex, drawing on known correlates of extramarital sex and other psychosocial constructs that may be associated with cultural group or nativity that could account for such associations. Results from the National Latino and Asian American Study, a probability sample of Latinos in the United States, indicated that the annual prevalence of extramarital sex was significantly higher among (a) Puerto Ricans relative to Mexicans and (b) foreign-born individuals relative to those born in the United States. Probability of extramarital sex was significantly associated with marital satisfaction and frequency of religious attendance, but these variables did not account for the subgroup differences in the prevalence of extramarital sex. Marital adjustment, acculturation (English proficiency and use), enculturation (ethnic identity), and family cohesion were not significantly associated with probability of extramarital sex. Results underscore the need for continued research on understanding subgroup differences in the prevalence of extramarital sex within the diverse Latino community and identifying characteristics that account for such differences.