Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women

Where autonomy for partner choice is high, partner preferences may be shaped by both social and ecological conditions. In particular, women's access to resources can influence both the type and number of partnerships she engages in. However, most existing data linking resources and partner choi...

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Main Authors: Sean P. Prall, Brooke A. Scelza
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2020-01-01
Series:Evolutionary Human Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X20000432/type/journal_article
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author Sean P. Prall
Brooke A. Scelza
author_facet Sean P. Prall
Brooke A. Scelza
author_sort Sean P. Prall
collection DOAJ
description Where autonomy for partner choice is high, partner preferences may be shaped by both social and ecological conditions. In particular, women's access to resources can influence both the type and number of partnerships she engages in. However, most existing data linking resources and partner choice rely on either priming effects or large demographic databases, rather than preferences for specific individuals. Here we leverage a combination of demographic data, food insecurity scores and trait and partner preference ratings to determine whether resource security modulates partner preferences among Himba pastoralists. We find that while food insecurity alone has a weak effect on women's openness to new partners, the interaction of food insecurity and number of dependent children strongly predicts women's openness to potential partners. Further, we show that women who have more dependants have stronger preferences for wealthy and influential men. An alternative hypothesis derived from mating-market dynamics, that female desirability affects female preferences, had no effect. Our data show that women who face greater resource constraints are less discriminating in the number of partners they are open to, and have stronger preferences for resource-related traits. These findings highlight the importance of ecological signals in explaining the plasticity of mate preferences.
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spelling doaj.art-0cdce3958854456492043721e052cb992023-03-09T12:32:20ZengCambridge University PressEvolutionary Human Sciences2513-843X2020-01-01210.1017/ehs.2020.43Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba womenSean P. Prall0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5719-6460Brooke A. Scelza1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5875-8875Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USADepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USAWhere autonomy for partner choice is high, partner preferences may be shaped by both social and ecological conditions. In particular, women's access to resources can influence both the type and number of partnerships she engages in. However, most existing data linking resources and partner choice rely on either priming effects or large demographic databases, rather than preferences for specific individuals. Here we leverage a combination of demographic data, food insecurity scores and trait and partner preference ratings to determine whether resource security modulates partner preferences among Himba pastoralists. We find that while food insecurity alone has a weak effect on women's openness to new partners, the interaction of food insecurity and number of dependent children strongly predicts women's openness to potential partners. Further, we show that women who have more dependants have stronger preferences for wealthy and influential men. An alternative hypothesis derived from mating-market dynamics, that female desirability affects female preferences, had no effect. Our data show that women who face greater resource constraints are less discriminating in the number of partners they are open to, and have stronger preferences for resource-related traits. These findings highlight the importance of ecological signals in explaining the plasticity of mate preferences.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X20000432/type/journal_articlemate choicefood insecuritytransactional sex
spellingShingle Sean P. Prall
Brooke A. Scelza
Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women
Evolutionary Human Sciences
mate choice
food insecurity
transactional sex
title Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women
title_full Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women
title_fullStr Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women
title_full_unstemmed Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women
title_short Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women
title_sort resource demands reduce partner discrimination in himba women
topic mate choice
food insecurity
transactional sex
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X20000432/type/journal_article
work_keys_str_mv AT seanpprall resourcedemandsreducepartnerdiscriminationinhimbawomen
AT brookeascelza resourcedemandsreducepartnerdiscriminationinhimbawomen