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The effect of mating market dynamics on partner preference and relationship quality among Himba pastoralists.

ABSTRACT: Relative mate value has long been believed to be a critical component of mate choice in humans. However, most empirical work focuses on preferences rather than actual pair formation, and data connecting partner preferences, partnership formation, and relationship quality remain rare. Here, we estimate mate value using >12,000 ratings by opposite-sex, in-group members to understand both hypothetical partnership preferences and actualized relationship dynamics. When evaluating hypothetical partnerships, people generally prefer individuals whose mate value is higher than their own, indicating an aspirational matching strategy. However, mate value comparisons of individuals in marital and nonmarital relationships show a positive correlation, suggesting that individuals tend to pair up with similarly desirable individuals. Furthermore, despite aspirational preferences, couples who are more closely matched reported greater relationship quality, measured through frequency of interactions, reported sexual histories, and partnership length.

SUBMITTER: Prall S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9067927 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The effect of mating market dynamics on partner preference and relationship quality among Himba pastoralists.

Prall Sean S Scelza Brooke B

Science advances 20220504 18

Relative mate value has long been believed to be a critical component of mate choice in humans. However, most empirical work focuses on preferences rather than actual pair formation, and data connecting partner preferences, partnership formation, and relationship quality remain rare. Here, we estimate mate value using >12,000 ratings by opposite-sex, in-group members to understand both hypothetical partnership preferences and actualized relationship dynamics. When evaluating hypothetical partner ...[more]

PMID: 35507659

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Project description:In biology, economics, and politics, distributive power is the key for understanding asymmetrical relationships and it can be obtained by force (dominance) or trading (leverage). Whenever males cannot use force, they largely depend on females for breeding opportunities and the balance of power tilts in favour of females. Thus, males are expected not only to compete within their sex-class but also to exchange services with the opposite sex. Does this mating market, described for humans and apes, apply also to prosimians, the most ancestral primate group? To answer the question, we studied a scent-oriented and gregarious lemur, Propithecus verreauxi (sifaka), showing female dominance, promiscuous mating, and seasonal breeding. We collected 57 copulations involving 8 males and 4 females in the wild (Berenty Reserve, South Madagascar), and data (all occurrences) on grooming, aggressions, and marking behaviour. We performed the analyses via exact Spearman and matrix correlations. Male mating priority rank correlated with the frequency of male countermarking over female scents but not with the proportion of fights won by males over females. Thus, males competed in an olfactory tournament more than in an arena of aggressive encounters. The copulation frequency correlated neither with the proportion of fights won by males nor with the frequency of male countermarking on female scents. Male-to-female grooming correlated with female-to-male grooming only during premating. Instead, in the mating period male-to-female grooming correlated with the copulation frequency. In short, the biological market underwent seasonal fluctuations, since males bargained grooming for sex in the mating days and grooming for itself in the premating period. Top scent-releasers gained mating priority (they mated first) and top groomers ensured a higher number of renewed copulations (they mated more). In conclusion, males maximize their reproduction probability by adopting a double tactic and by following market fluctuations.

Project description:Melanoma has a high survival rate if it is detected early. Training patients with early-stage melanoma who are at risk of developing new melanomas to perform skin self-examination (SSE) may improve survival.To examine for whom the intervention works best in a sample composed of dyads of patients with melanoma and skin-check partners who received an SSE intervention vs customary care.For 494 patients with stage 0 to IIB melanoma (mean age, 55 years; 253 [51.2%] females) and their skin-check partners (mean age, 55 years; 280 [56.7%] females), a randomized clinical trial was conducted in ambulatory care dermatologic offices from June 6, 2011, to April 14, 2014. Follow-up assessments were performed at 12 months. Analysis was performed between March 23 and June 25, 2015.Dyads of 494 patients and their partners were randomly assigned to receive the intervention (395 patients) or customary care (control) (99 patients). The main outcome was patient SSE self-efficacy. Partner motivation to assist with SSE and relationship quality (eg, agreeability, activities with partner, and happiness) were assessed for moderation of the influence of the intervention's effect on SSE self-efficacy.Relationship quality, defined by activities with the partner (? =?-0.892, SE = 0.432, t =?-2.066; P =?.001) and happiness (? =?-4.586, SE = 2.044, t =?-2.24; P =?.001), significantly moderated the intervention effects on patients' SSE self-efficacy. In contrast, patient-partner agreeability (? =?-0.262, SE = 0.148, t =?-1.773; P =?.09) and partner motivation (? =?-0.328, SE = 1.024, t =?-0.320; P =?.10) did not significantly moderate the intervention effects on patients' SSE self-efficacy. Differences between the conditions were highest when activities performed with the partner were below average (mean difference, 6.652; P =?.001) and when happiness was below average (mean difference, 7.000; P =?.001). Although everyone receiving the intervention experienced some benefit, the findings indicate the greatest increases in self-efficacy were observed for those with below-average activities performed with the partner and happiness.The training of patients with melanoma and their partners in early-detection SSE benefited some more than others. Pairs who have low relationship quality, as determined by activities performed with the partner and happiness, may have received the greatest benefits from the training intervention because they were given an activity to perform together.clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01432860.

Dataset Information

The effect of mating market dynamics on partner preference and relationship quality among Himba pastoralists.

Publications

The effect of mating market dynamics on partner preference and relationship quality among Himba pastoralists.

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