Seductive
Pornography, Relationship Alternatives, and Intimate Extradyadic Behavior
Andrea Marlea Gwinn et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Two studies tested the hypothesis that exposure to pornography among romantically committed individuals would increase the likelihood of intimate extradyadic behavior and that this effect would be mediated by heightened perceptions of romantic alternatives. Study 1 (n = 74) found that participants primed with sexually explicit material reported having higher quality romantic alternatives. Study 2 (n = 291) showed that initial pornography consumption predicted intimate extradyadic behavior 12 weeks later even after controlling for initial extradyadic behavior, sociosexuality, relationship length, baseline relationship satisfaction, social desirability, and participant gender and race. The relationship between pornography and intimate extradyadic behavior was mediated by perceptions of the quality of romantic alternatives. These results suggest that sexually explicit material can provoke intimate extradyadic behavior via its effect on perceptions of alternative partners.
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Do Parental Involvement Laws Deter Risky Teen Sex?
Silvie Colman, Thomas Dee & Theodore Joyce
NBER Working Paper, February 2013
Abstract:
Parental involvement (PI) laws require that physicians notify or obtain consent from a parent(s) of a minor seeking an abortion before performing the procedure. Several studies suggest that PI laws curb risky sexual behavior because teens realize that they would be compelled to discuss a subsequent pregnancy with a parent. We show that prior evidence based on gonorrhea rates overlooked the frequent under-reporting of gonorrhea by race and ethnicity, and present new evidence on the effects of PI laws using more current data on the prevalence of gonorrhea and data that are novel to this literature (i.e., chlamydia rates and data disaggregated by year of age). We improve the credibility of our estimates over those in the existing literature using an event-study design in addition to standard difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) models. Our findings consistently suggest no association between PI laws and rates of sexually transmitted infections or measures of sexual behavior.
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Eric Russell et al.
Evolutionary Psychology, February 2013, Pages 132-147
Abstract:
Although research has made progress in elucidating the benefits exchanged within same- and opposite-sex friendships formed between heterosexual men and women, it is less clear why straight women and gay men form close relationships with one another. The current experiments begin to address this question by exploring a potential benefit hypothesized to be uniquely available to straight women and gay men in the context of these friendships: trustworthy mating advice. Experiment 1 revealed that straight women perceive mating-relevant advice from a gay man to be more trustworthy than similar advice offered by a straight man or woman. Experiment 2 demonstrated that gay men perceive mating advice offered by a straight woman to be more trustworthy than advice offered by a lesbian woman or another gay man. Overall, the results provide initial experimental evidence that relationships between gay men and straight women may be characterized by a mutual exchange of mating-relevant benefits in the absence of sexual interest or competition.
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The Influence of Social Networking Photos on Social Norms and Sexual Health Behaviors
Sean Young & Alexander Jordan
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, forthcoming
Abstract:
Two studies tested whether online social networking technologies influence health behavioral social norms, and in turn, personal health behavioral intentions. In Study 1, experimental participants browsed peers' Facebook photos on a college network with a low prevalence of sexually suggestive content. Participants estimated the percentage of their peers who have sex without condoms, and rated their own future intentions to use condoms. Experimental participants, compared to controls who did not view photos, estimated that a larger percentage of their peers use condoms, and indicated a greater intention to use condoms themselves in the future. In Study 2, participants were randomly assigned to view sexually suggestive or nonsexually suggestive Facebook photos, and responded to sexual risk behavioral questions. Compared to participants viewing nonsuggestive photos, those who viewed sexually suggestive Facebook photos estimated that a larger percentage of their peers have unprotected sexual intercourse and sex with strangers and were more likely to report that they themselves would engage in these behaviors. Thus, online social networks can influence perceptions of the peer prevalence of sexual risk behaviors, and can influence users' own intentions with regard to such behaviors. These studies suggest the potential power of social networks to affect health behaviors by altering perceptions of peer norms.
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Weather and courtship behavior: A quasi-experiment with the flirty sunshine
Nicolas Guéguen
Social Influence, forthcoming
Abstract:
Studies have shown that pleasant weather conditions (namely sunshine) favor positive social relationships and improve moods. However, the effect of sunshine on romantic relationships has never been studied. In a field quasi-experiment 18-25-year-old women walking alone in the street were approached by an attractive 20-year-old male confederate who solicited them for their phone numbers. The women were solicited on days that were evaluated as being either sunny or cloudy but care was taken to control for temperature and not to solicit participants when it rained. It was found that women agreed more often to the confederate's courtship solicitation on the sunny days. Positive mood induction by the sun may explain such results.
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The myth of hidden ovulation: Shape and texture changes in the face during the menstrual cycle
E. Oberzaucher et al.
Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, December 2012, Pages 163-175
Abstract:
In recent years, evidence has been gathered indicating increased attractiveness of female faces at the point of ovulation. In this paper, we asked what changes in facial appearance occur during menstrual cycle that lead to this shift in attractiveness. We analysed facial photographs of 20 young women with a normal cycle. We found evidence for textural changes, as well as shape changes that might account for the ovulatory peak in attractiveness. Generally, facial shape at ovulation is perceived as more attractive - and ovulating women are perceived as more attractive the closer their face shape is to the "ovulation shape". These findings support the hypothesis that attractive signals might be rooted in signals of fertility.
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Women want taller men more than men want shorter women
Gert Stulp, Abraham Buunk & Thomas Pollet
Personality and Individual Differences, June 2013, Pages 877-883
Abstract:
Physical characteristics, such as height, play an important role in human mate preferences. Satisfaction with one's own height and one's partner height seem likely to be related to these preferences. Using a student sample (N = 650), we show that women are not only more selective, but also more consistent, than men, in their partner height preferences. Women prefer, on average, a larger height difference between themselves and their partner (i.e. males being much taller than themselves) than men do. This effect is even more pronounced when examining satisfaction with actual partner height: women are most satisfied when their partner was 21 cm taller, whereas men are most satisfied when they were 8 cm taller than their partner. Next, using data from our sample and that of a previously published study (N = 52,677), we show that for men, height is more important to the expression of satisfaction with one's own height than it is for women. Furthermore, slightly above average height women and tall men are most satisfied with their heights. We conclude that satisfaction with one's own height is at least partly a consequence of the height preference of the opposite sex and satisfaction with one's partner height.
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Murray Millar
Evolutionary Psychology, January 2013, Pages 18-35
Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to explore the influence of mate value and fertility status on women's implicit and explicit preferences for male traits associated with genetic quality. It was hypothesized that a woman low in mate value would experience greater fluctuation across her menstrual cycle in her preferences for characteristics associated with genetic quality than a woman high in mate value. Specifically, a low mate value woman during the non-fertile part of the cycle would experience a reduction in a desire for traits associated with health and reproductive success. To test the hypothesis, the college age female participants completed two measures of mate value and a self-report measure designed to gauge fertility status. Then the participants performed an Implicit Associations Test (IAT) designed to measure implicit associations with a male trait related to genetic quality and a questionnaire designed to measure their explicit responses to the same trait. As predicted, mate value moderated the relationship between fertility status and implicit preferences.
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Randy Thornhill, Judith Flynn Chapman & Steven Gangestad
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women in the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle show an enhanced sexual preference for masculine expressions in behavioral, morphological and scent traits. These masculinity preferences may be associated with testosterone (T) levels in males and hence connote male quality as a sire. Thus, a scent preference of fertile-phase women for T is predicted. A recent study, however, found no evidence for this, but reported that women prefer the scent of men with high cortisol (C). That study had low power to detect the predicted effect, as well as other methodological limitations. We tested women's preferences across their ovulatory cycle for the body scent of men who varied in T and C, using a larger sample of men and methods used in research on cycle preferences for symmetry-related male body scent. Conception risk in the cycle positively predicted women's scent ratings of men's T; scent ratings of C or T × C interaction were not robustly related to conception risk. Conception risk is related positively to a preference for scent of men's symmetry. This preference is distinct from that arising from a preference for the scent of T. The male-emitted chemical(s) responsible for these preferences shifts across women's cycle remain unknown.
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Dating Trajectories From Middle to High School: Association With Academic Performance and Drug Use
Pamela Orpinas et al.
Journal of Research on Adolescence, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study identifies trajectories of dating from sixth to twelfth grade and describes the academic performance (teacher-rated study skills and high school dropout) and self-reported drug use associated with these trajectories, in a diverse sample randomly selected in sixth grade. Using a group-based, semiparametric procedure, we identified four dating trajectories: low (16%), increasing (24%), high middle school (22%), and frequent (38%). Students in these latter two groups had significantly worse study skills, were four times more likely to drop out of school, and reported twice as much alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use than students in the low and increasing dating groups. This study highlights the diversity of dating trajectories and some of the risks associated with early dating.
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Self-esteem and Evaluations of Targets with Ostensibly Different Levels of Self-worth
Virgil Zeigler-Hill & Avi Besser
Self and Identity, forthcoming
Abstract:
Individuals with high self-esteem are often perceived to be desirable romantic partners. The aim of the present study was to examine the moderating effect of the self-esteem of participants on their evaluations of opposite-gender targets with randomly assigned self-esteem designations on dimensions that are relevant for selecting relationship partners, their willingness to engage in particular types of uncommitted relational activities with these targets, and the consequences that participants anticipated for themselves resulting from interactions with the targets. A randomized experimental two-wave design was used to examine whether the self-esteem possessed by Israeli community participants (N = 799) would moderate the attractiveness ratings they assigned to opposite-gender targets with ostensibly different levels of self-esteem. Our results found that targets with relatively high levels of self-esteem were perceived to be highly attractive and desirable romantic partners. This general pattern was moderated by the self-esteem of the participants such that participants with high self-esteem found targets with somewhat high levels of self-esteem to be more desirable than other targets including those targets with very high levels of self-esteem. The present findings are discussed in the context of the implicit theory of self-esteem.
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Jerika Norona et al.
Sex Roles, April 2013, Pages 439-453
Abstract:
Heterosexual U.S. adolescents tend to show gender differences in how they describe romantic relationships, with males being positioned as cool and objectifying toward females, and females as warm and positively engaged (Simon et al. 1992; Tolman 2002). However, according to developmental theory (Arnett 2000, 2004), such gender scripts should be less operative in early adulthood, when romantic relationships become a prime concern for college-age youth regardless of gender. Partly confirming this premise, a recent study of male undergraduate friends in California found that during casual conversations, one of their most prevalent story telling patterns was shifting between positioning themselves as warm and engaged (intimate) and as cool and objectifying (distancing) toward romantic partners (Korobov and Thorne 2006). For purposes of a gender comparison, the present archival, mixed-methods study deployed the same methodology to examine the prevalence of these patterns for a companion college sample of 37 pairs of women friends. Gender differences were found for only one of four story patterns: Women friends told proportionately more stories than men that were mildly intimate. Otherwise the stories of both genders showed parallel patterns either of dense distancing, or of repeatedly shifting between intimacy and distancing. In addition, women and men friends showed a similar versatility in the array of patterns they produced. The findings suggest mild operability of a gendered intimacy script, but more generally support the premise that working out what one does and doesn't want in a romantic relationship is a common concern for young adult friends regardless of gender.
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Alberto Chong et al.
NBER Working Paper, February 2013
Abstract:
Sexual health problems cause negative externalities from contagious diseases and public expenditure burdens from teenage pregnancies. In a randomized evaluation, we find that an online sexual-health education course in Colombia leads to significant impacts on knowledge and attitudes and, for those already sexually active, fewer STIs. To go beyond self-reported measures, we provide condom vouchers six months after the course, and find a 9 percentage point increase in redemption. We find no evidence of spillovers to untreated classrooms, but we do observe a social reinforcement effect: the impact intensifies when a larger fraction of a student's friends is also treated.
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Reducing Sexual Risk Behavior in Adolescent Girls: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial
Dianne Morrison-Beedy et al.
Journal of Adolescent Health, March 2013, Pages 314-321
Purpose: Teenage girls in low-income urban settings are at an elevated risk for HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a sexual risk-reduction (SRR) intervention, supplemented with postintervention booster sessions, targeting low-income, urban, sexually active teenage girls.
Method: Randomized controlled trial in which sexually active urban adolescent girls (n = 738) recruited in a midsize northeastern U.S. city were randomized to a theory-based SRR intervention or to a structurally equivalent health promotion control group. Assessments and behavioral data were collected using audio computer-assisted self-interview at baseline, then at 3, 6, and 12 months postintervention. Both interventions included four small-group sessions and two booster sessions.
Results: Relative to girls in the control group, girls receiving the SRR intervention were more likely to be sexually abstinent; if sexually active, they showed decreases in (a) total episodes of vaginal sex at all follow-ups, (b) number of unprotected vaginal sex acts at 3 and 12 months, and (c) total number of sex partners at 6 months. Medical record audits for girls recruited from a clinical setting (n = 322) documented a 50% reduction in positive pregnancy tests at 12 months.
Conclusions: Theory-based behavioral interventions tailored to adolescent girls can help to reduce sexual risk and may also reduce unintended pregnancies. Although sexually active at enrollment, many of the girls receiving the intervention were more likely to practice secondary abstinence. Continued refinement of SRR interventions for girls is needed to ensure they are feasible, appealing, and effective.
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Rainer Romero-Canyas & Geraldine Downey
Emotion, February 2013, Pages 104-117
Abstract:
Gauging one's impression on a potential mate is challenging. There is a need to make reasonably accurate inferences from subtle, dynamic facial expressions and to maintain motivation to connect despite the risk of rejection. The interpersonal optimism of people low in rejection sensitivity (RS), people who confidently expect acceptance rather than anxiously expect rejection, as do their high RS counterparts, suggests that they may strategically underestimate social threat cues when inferring the impression they have made on others. To test this hypothesis, participants viewed the videotaped reactions of individuals said to have read the participant's own or someone else's biographical sketch in an online dating context, and then estimated the emotions of the targets. Estimates of negativity were unrelated to RS when participants believed the videos captured the reactions to someone else's biographical sketch. However, to the extent that participants were low in RS, they made lower estimates of negativity when they believed the videos showed reactions to their biographical sketch compared to when they believed the videos captured the reactions to someone else's biographical sketch. The tracking accuracy of participants estimating negativity was unrelated to RS under either condition, but increased with trait empathy. RS was unrelated to estimates of positivity. Supporting functional perspectives on interpersonal perception, results show that interpersonal optimism shapes impressions of others' reactions to the self in ways that can foster relationship initiation.
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Love the One You're With: The Endowment Effect in the Dating Market
Colette Nataf & Thomas Wallsten
Journal of Economic Psychology, April 2013, Pages 58-66
Abstract:
The endowment effect appears to be much stronger in markets for environmental goods that are not usually monetized than in traditional markets. This study explored the effect in another non-traditional market: the dating market. In Experiment 1, participants were asked either for a buying or selling price for the contact information of each of 10 dates. The WTA/WTP ratios within this market were higher than in traditional markets and, unexpectedly, much higher for women than for men, with an average ratio of 9.37 and 2.70, respectively. Experiment 2 replicated this result and found in a within-subject design the usual WTA/WTP ratio for coffee mugs. The paper concludes with a discussion of differences between traditional and non-traditional markets, with a special emphasis on the dating market.
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Blind dates and mate preferences: An analysis of newspaper matchmaking columns
John Kelley & Rebecca Malouf
Evolutionary Psychology, January 2013, Pages 1-8
Abstract:
Parental investment theory and sexual strategies theory predict that women and men should differ on many of the criteria by which they choose mates. These theories posit a gender selectivity effect, such that women should be more selective than men in their mating choices. The theories also posit an age differential effect, such that women should seek older mates, and men should seek younger mates. These two hypotheses have been supported by self-report surveys, speed-dating studies, analysis of on-line and newspaper personal ads, and laboratory analog studies. However, each of these data sources has limitations. Therefore, a new source of data may provide a valuable additional test of the robustness of these effects. The current study examined two independent sources of data involving blind dates arranged and paid for by newspapers. Consistent with the first hypothesis, we found women to be more selective than men. We also found that matchmakers tended to pair older men with younger women, consistent with the second hypothesis. However, contrary to the second hypothesis, we found no evidence that the age differential between members of a couple influenced their ratings of the date. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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The code of the street and romantic relationships: A dyadic analysis
Ashley Barr, Ronald Simons & Eric Stewart
Personal Relationships, March 2013, Pages 84-106
Abstract:
Since its publication, Elijah Anderson's (1999) Code of the Street thesis has found support in studies connecting disadvantage to the internalization of street-oriented values and an associated lifestyle of violent/deviant behavior. This primary emphasis on deviance in public arenas has precluded researchers from examining the implications of the code of the street for less public arenas, such as intimate relationships. In an effort to understand if and how the endorsement of the street code may infiltrate such relationships, this study examines the associations between the code of the street and relationship satisfaction and commitment among young adults involved in heterosexual romantic relationships. Using a dyadic approach, the study finds that street code orientation, in general, negatively predicts satisfaction and commitment, in part due to increased relationship hostility/conflict associated with the internalization of the code. Gender differences in these associations are considered and discussed at length.