Nigel Barber
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 84467 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Nigel Barber |
| NOMBRES | Nigel |
| APELLIDO | Barber |
| FIRMA | BARBER N |
| AFILIACIONES | Portland, Maine |
| VERIFICADO | No |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 33 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 190 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 33 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1994 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2018 |
| ÍNDICE H | 8 |
Cross-National Variation in Attitudes to Premarital Sex
Sexual behavior responds adaptively to local costs and benefits. It was thus predicted that acceptance of premarital sex would increase with economic development (gross domestic product [GDP]), female labor participation, and births outside wedlock but would decline with marriage strength (marriage rate minus divorce rate), HIV/AIDS incidence, infectious disease risk, and religiosity. Pew Research data on attitudes to premarital sex in 40 countri…
Why Is Mississippi More Religious Than New Hampshire? Material Security and Ethnicity as Factors
Cross-national research links decline in religiosity with improved living conditions due to economic development. These associations were examined in data from Gallup polls conducted in 50 U.S. states. Correlational analysis found that state religiosity (or importance attributed to religion) declined with economic development (state Human Development Index [HDI]). Positive correlates of religiosity included state hypertension levels (used as an i…
Why Behavior Matches Ecology
Adaptive variation refers to the lock-and-key type relationship between an organism and its ecological niche. This includes a patterned relationship between human behavior and societal variation. As societies become more complex, for example, our capacity to process a great deal of information quickly increases (the Flynn effect). Such adaptive processes illuminate societal variation because there is a reliable pattern in comparative research whe…
Country Religiosity Declines as Material Security Increases
According to the uncertainty hypothesis, religion declines as the quality of life improves. Replicating an earlier study with religious disbelief as the DV, it was predicted that religiosity would decline in developed countries due to greater existential security, including income security (income equality and redistribution via welfare states) and improved health. This study used a uniform data source, improving on the heterogeneous surveys tapp…
A Cross-National Test of the Uncertainty Hypothesis of Religious Belief
According to the uncertainty hypothesis, religion helps people cope psychologically with dangerous or unpredictable situations. Conversely, with greater control over the external environment due to economic development and technological advances, religious belief is predicted to decline (the existential security hypothesis). The author predicts that religious belief would decline in economically developed countries where there is greater existent…
Applying the Concept of Adaptation to Societal Differences in Intelligence
The concept of adaptation has been defined too rigidly by evolutionary psychologists so as to exclude modern conditions. This article proposes a more flexible, and useful, application of the term.Among animals with extensive social learning, adaptations must include behaviors that enhance current fitness on average (rather than over the distant past). Because the content of social learning is non genetic, it is selected directly via the phenotype…
Explaining Cross-National Differences in Fertility
Low fertility in modern societies challenges evolutionary social scientists. A comparative analysis of less developed countries investigated various possible predictors of low fertility including urbanization, monogamous marriage, level of participation in the monetary economy (GDP), and low infant mortality. Using a sample of 45 countries broken out by urban and rural location, each of these predictors of total fertility was significant in a reg…
Countries with fewer males have more violent crime
Violent crimes (murders, rapes, and assaults) are substantially higher in countries with a relative scarcity of men according to research using INTERPOL data [Barber, 2000a]. This is a paradox given that males are more criminally violent and likely reflects increased direct mating competition. The present research sought to confirm and extend Barber's [2000a] finding, using murder data from the United Nations and homicides from World Health Organ…
Explaining Cross-National Differences in Polygyny Intensity
Possible adaptive functions of polygyny include resource-defense, scarcity of men, and countering a high pathogen load, and cultural determinists posit religion and gender discrimination as factors. Using a sample of 32 polygynous countries broken down by urban and rural location, each of these explanations of polygyny was tested in regression analysis. Polygyny increased in tropical countries having plenty of arable land and unequal distribution…
Evolutionary Explanations for Societal Differences and Historical Change in Violent Crime and Single Parenthood
This article argues that social science can be conducted beneath the umbrella of natural science and evolutionary theory. Evolutionary social science makes four key causal assumptions: (a) that modern societies owe their character to an interaction of hunter—gatherer adaptations with the modern environment, (b) that some changes in societies reflect change in individuals, (c) that historical changes and cross-societal differences can be due to si…
Why is violent crime so common in the Americas
Violent crimes, including murders, rapes, and assaults are substantially higher in the Americas than other regions of the world. This study investigated the role of single parenthood ratios in accounting for this regional variation in violent crime of 39 countries using INTERPOL data. It pitted the prediction of parental investment (calling for a delayed relationship between single parenthood and crime) against a mating aggression hypothesis that…
Is the Effect of National Wealth on Academic Achievement Mediated by Mass Media and Computers
Could the educational advantage of wealthy countries be due to their mass media and computers? The 1999 Third International Mathematics and Science Study math and science scores and 2001 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study reading scores were used to investigate whether cross-national differences in academic achievement would be positively related to information exposure (newspapers, TV, computers). Math, science, and reading scores …
Sex ratio at birth, polygyny, and fertility
The sex ratio at birth may reflect frequency of intercourse that affects the timing of conception. If so, cross-national variation in polygyny and fertility might account for country differences in secondary sex ratios. Consistent with the timing of intercourse hypothesis, the birth sex ratios of 148 countries declined with total fertility rates and polygyny intensity, and increased with contraception use in correlational analysis. Regression ana…
Single Parenthood as a Predictor of Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime
This article investigates the role of single parenthood ratios in predicting violent-crime rates (murders, rapes, assaults) of 39 countries and pitted the predictions of parental investment theory (calling for delayed effects) against those of mating aggression (calling for immediate effects). Regression analyses that controlled for masculinity of the population (sex ratio of 15-to 64-year-olds) and national wealth (log gross national product, GN…
Reduced Female Marriage Opportunity and History of Single Parenthood
This study investigated whether historical changes in nonmarital birth ratios would respond to the availability of marriageable men. Nonmarital birth ratios for Scotland (1861 to 1980), England (1851 to 1980), and the United States (1800 to 1988) were studied at 4-year or 5-year intervals. Nonmarital births were negatively correlated with the supply of single men in each country. Regression analyses controlling for time trend and economic prosper…
Divorce and Reduced Economic and Emotional Interdependence
This cross-national study of 1996 divorce rates in 76 countries tested two hypotheses, that divorce would increase with economic independence of women (indexed by gross national product, female labor, literacy, and urbanization) and with reduced emotional commitment of spouses to marriage (as indexed by low population sex ratios, low fertility, high teen births, polygyny). Both hypotheses were strongly supported in a regression analysis controlli…
Paternal Investment Prospects and Cross-National Differences in Single Parenthood
Previous research has shown that when young women have diminished prospects of paternal investment in their children, they are more likely to reproduce as teens. This study investigated whether high rates of nonmarital births for 85 countries would be predicted by diminished prospects of paternal investment as measured by high male unemployment, low wealth (gross national product [GNP]), low sex ratios, and high teen birth rates. It was predicted…
The Sex Ratio and Female Marital Opportunity as Historical Predictors of Violent Crime in England, Scotland, and the United States
The effects of sex ratios and marriage markets on violent crime were investigated by regression analysis of temporal variation in violent crime rates in England and Wales (1856 to 1980), Scotland (1871 to 1980), and homicides in the United States (1900 to 1988). Independent variables included the sex ratio of adults (15 to 44 years), marital opportunity of women (ratio of single men to women at the peak age of marriage), illegitimacy ratios, and …
Parental Investment, Human Capital, and Cross-National Differences in Wealth
Economists have recently turned to family variables in search of explanations for why the economies of some countries grow more rapidly than others. This research tested the hypothesis that crossnational indicators of parental investment and human capital would be predictive of GNP per capita of 147 countries. Regression analysis found that close to two thirds of the variance in GNP was explained by parental investment factors (including total fe…
Parental Investment Prospects and Teen Birth Rates of Blacks and Whites in American Metropolitan Areas
Parental investment theory was used to identify predictors of nonmarital teen birth rates for Blacks and Whites in U.S. metropolitan areas. Regression models predicted Black teen births, White teen births, and both together using indices of parental investment (male income, unemployment rates, marital opportunity for women) with various controls. White teen births decreased with increased marital opportunity for women, and the same was true of Bl…
On the Relationship Between Fertility and Geographic Latitude
Mammalian reproduction is strongly affected by photoperiod and ambient temperature. Although human fertility is seasonal, there has been little systematic investigation of cross-national variation in fertility as a function of latitude and climate. This study investigated the relationship between total fertility rates in 187 countries and average latitude and average winter and summer temperatures. Total fertility rate in countries below 33° lati…
Does Parental Investment Increase Wealth, or Does Wealth Increase Parental Investment
Possible causal relationships between parental investment and economic growth and productivity were investigated cross-nationally. Composite variables were constructed to measure parental investment (PI), human capital (HC), national health, government effectiveness, and economic development for 148 countries. Some composites were highly intercorrelated, particularly PI, HC, and health, and all predicted absolute (dollar value) annual growth (199…
Gender Differences in Effects of Mood on Body Image
Marital Opportunity, Parental Investment, and Teen Birth Rates of Blacks and Whites in American States
This study used parental investment theory to identify predictors of teen pregnancy rates for Blacks and Whites for 41 U.S. states for which data were available for 1995. Regression models were built that predicted Black teen births, White teen births, and both together using indices of parental investment (unemployment, prison incarceration rates, poverty, marital opportunity for women as indexed by gender ratios) and controlling for economic de…
On the Relationship between Marital Opportunity and Teen Pregnancy
Since Guttentag and Secord proposed that low sex ratios (i.e., scarcity of men) produce marital instability and high rates of nonmarital pregnancy, empirical investigations of this issue have produced weak and conflicting results. This study sought to clarify the issue using cross-national data compiled by the United Nations. Geographical region, per capita gross national product (GNP), the marriage rate, and whether the sample was urban or rural…
The Sex Ratio as a Predictor of Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime
Because low-sex-ratio societies are likely to have increased family conflict, and because family conflict increases aggression, it was predicted that these societies would have higher rates of violent crimes such as homicide, rape, and assaults. These predictions were supported in regression analyses of Interpol data for 70 countries that used a variety of controls for level of economic development, ecology (mean temperature, population density, …
On the Relationship Between Country Sex Ratios and Teen Pregnancy Rates
The hypothesis that a low ratio of men to women both destabilizes marriages and makes it more likely that young women will reproduce early outside of marriage was supported by an analysis of 42 societies for which the United Nations published detailed information on population structure and teen childbearing. This study attempted to replicate the earlier finding using sex ratios for 0- to 14-year-olds (as a proxy for teen sex ratios) and a larger…
A Cross-National Test of the Uncertainty Hypothesis of Religious Belief
According to the uncertainty hypothesis, religion helps people cope psychologically with dangerous or unpredictable situations. Conversely, with greater control over the external environment due to economic development and technological advances, religious belief is predicted to decline (the existential security hypothesis). The author predicts that religious belief would decline in economically developed countries where there is greater existent…
On the Relationship between Marital Opportunity and Teen Pregnancy
Since Guttentag and Secord proposed that low sex ratios (i.e., scarcity of men) produce marital instability and high rates of nonmarital pregnancy, empirical investigations of this issue have produced weak and conflicting results. This study sought to clarify the issue using cross-national data compiled by the United Nations. Geographical region, per capita gross national product (GNP), the marriage rate, and whether the sample was urban or rural…
Paternal Investment Prospects and Cross-National Differences in Single Parenthood
Previous research has shown that when young women have diminished prospects of paternal investment in their children, they are more likely to reproduce as teens. This study investigated whether high rates of nonmarital births for 85 countries would be predicted by diminished prospects of paternal investment as measured by high male unemployment, low wealth (gross national product [GNP]), low sex ratios, and high teen birth rates. It was predicted…
The Sex Ratio and Female Marital Opportunity as Historical Predictors of Violent Crime in England, Scotland, and the United States
The effects of sex ratios and marriage markets on violent crime were investigated by regression analysis of temporal variation in violent crime rates in England and Wales (1856 to 1980), Scotland (1871 to 1980), and homicides in the United States (1900 to 1988). Independent variables included the sex ratio of adults (15 to 44 years), marital opportunity of women (ratio of single men to women at the peak age of marriage), illegitimacy ratios, and …
Women's Dress Fashions as a Function of Reproductive Strategy
Evolutionary Explanations for Societal Differences and Historical Change in Violent Crime and Single Parenthood
This article argues that social science can be conducted beneath the umbrella of natural science and evolutionary theory. Evolutionary social science makes four key causal assumptions: (a) that modern societies owe their character to an interaction of hunter—gatherer adaptations with the modern environment, (b) that some changes in societies reflect change in individuals, (c) that historical changes and cross-societal differences can be due to si…
The Role of Reproductive Strategies in Academic Attainment
Ecological and Psychosocial Correlates of Male Homosexuality
Predictions were tested using the Human Relations Area Files database that (a) homo-sexuality would be rarer in hunter-gatherer societies and (b) psychosocial stressors of women would predict its increased frequency. Homosexual frequency decreased as a function of amount of gathering practiced and increased with size of the local community, supporting the first prediction. Lack of control by women in sexual matters predicted increased homosexuali…
Country Religiosity Declines as Material Security Increases
According to the uncertainty hypothesis, religion declines as the quality of life improves. Replicating an earlier study with religious disbelief as the DV, it was predicted that religiosity would decline in developed countries due to greater existential security, including income security (income equality and redistribution via welfare states) and improved health. This study used a uniform data source, improving on the heterogeneous surveys tapp…
Countries with fewer males have more violent crime
Violent crimes (murders, rapes, and assaults) are substantially higher in countries with a relative scarcity of men according to research using INTERPOL data [Barber, 2000a]. This is a paradox given that males are more criminally violent and likely reflects increased direct mating competition. The present research sought to confirm and extend Barber's [2000a] finding, using murder data from the United Nations and homicides from World Health Organ…
Why is violent crime so common in the Americas
Violent crimes, including murders, rapes, and assaults are substantially higher in the Americas than other regions of the world. This study investigated the role of single parenthood ratios in accounting for this regional variation in violent crime of 39 countries using INTERPOL data. It pitted the prediction of parental investment (calling for a delayed relationship between single parenthood and crime) against a mating aggression hypothesis that…
Single Parenthood as a Predictor of Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime
This article investigates the role of single parenthood ratios in predicting violent-crime rates (murders, rapes, assaults) of 39 countries and pitted the predictions of parental investment theory (calling for delayed effects) against those of mating aggression (calling for immediate effects). Regression analyses that controlled for masculinity of the population (sex ratio of 15-to 64-year-olds) and national wealth (log gross national product, GN…
Reduced Female Marriage Opportunity and History of Single Parenthood
This study investigated whether historical changes in nonmarital birth ratios would respond to the availability of marriageable men. Nonmarital birth ratios for Scotland (1861 to 1980), England (1851 to 1980), and the United States (1800 to 1988) were studied at 4-year or 5-year intervals. Nonmarital births were negatively correlated with the supply of single men in each country. Regression analyses controlling for time trend and economic prosper…
On the Relationship Between Fertility and Geographic Latitude
Mammalian reproduction is strongly affected by photoperiod and ambient temperature. Although human fertility is seasonal, there has been little systematic investigation of cross-national variation in fertility as a function of latitude and climate. This study investigated the relationship between total fertility rates in 187 countries and average latitude and average winter and summer temperatures. Total fertility rate in countries below 33° lati…
Why Is Mississippi More Religious Than New Hampshire? Material Security and Ethnicity as Factors
Cross-national research links decline in religiosity with improved living conditions due to economic development. These associations were examined in data from Gallup polls conducted in 50 U.S. states. Correlational analysis found that state religiosity (or importance attributed to religion) declined with economic development (state Human Development Index [HDI]). Positive correlates of religiosity included state hypertension levels (used as an i…
Is the Effect of National Wealth on Academic Achievement Mediated by Mass Media and Computers
Could the educational advantage of wealthy countries be due to their mass media and computers? The 1999 Third International Mathematics and Science Study math and science scores and 2001 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study reading scores were used to investigate whether cross-national differences in academic achievement would be positively related to information exposure (newspapers, TV, computers). Math, science, and reading scores …
Parental Investment, Human Capital, and Cross-National Differences in Wealth
Economists have recently turned to family variables in search of explanations for why the economies of some countries grow more rapidly than others. This research tested the hypothesis that crossnational indicators of parental investment and human capital would be predictive of GNP per capita of 147 countries. Regression analysis found that close to two thirds of the variance in GNP was explained by parental investment factors (including total fe…
Why Behavior Matches Ecology
Adaptive variation refers to the lock-and-key type relationship between an organism and its ecological niche. This includes a patterned relationship between human behavior and societal variation. As societies become more complex, for example, our capacity to process a great deal of information quickly increases (the Flynn effect). Such adaptive processes illuminate societal variation because there is a reliable pattern in comparative research whe…
Applying the Concept of Adaptation to Societal Differences in Intelligence
The concept of adaptation has been defined too rigidly by evolutionary psychologists so as to exclude modern conditions. This article proposes a more flexible, and useful, application of the term.Among animals with extensive social learning, adaptations must include behaviors that enhance current fitness on average (rather than over the distant past). Because the content of social learning is non genetic, it is selected directly via the phenotype…
Explaining Cross-National Differences in Fertility
Low fertility in modern societies challenges evolutionary social scientists. A comparative analysis of less developed countries investigated various possible predictors of low fertility including urbanization, monogamous marriage, level of participation in the monetary economy (GDP), and low infant mortality. Using a sample of 45 countries broken out by urban and rural location, each of these predictors of total fertility was significant in a reg…
Gender Differences in Effects of Mood on Body Image
Cross-National Variation in Attitudes to Premarital Sex
Sexual behavior responds adaptively to local costs and benefits. It was thus predicted that acceptance of premarital sex would increase with economic development (gross domestic product [GDP]), female labor participation, and births outside wedlock but would decline with marriage strength (marriage rate minus divorce rate), HIV/AIDS incidence, infectious disease risk, and religiosity. Pew Research data on attitudes to premarital sex in 40 countri…
Does Parental Investment Increase Wealth, or Does Wealth Increase Parental Investment
Possible causal relationships between parental investment and economic growth and productivity were investigated cross-nationally. Composite variables were constructed to measure parental investment (PI), human capital (HC), national health, government effectiveness, and economic development for 148 countries. Some composites were highly intercorrelated, particularly PI, HC, and health, and all predicted absolute (dollar value) annual growth (199…
Machiavellianism and Altruism
Four studies were conducted to investigate evolutionary predictions about the effect of relatedness of target persons on interpersonal attitudes. The first study ( N = 65 students) showed that Machiavellianism was lower in relation to family members than to people in general. The second study ( N = 86), in which a new Helping Attitudes questionnaire was used and validated, indicated that helpfulness was greater for family members than towards peo…
The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness
Sex Differences in Disposition Towards Kin, Security of Adult Attachment, and Sociosexuality as a Function of Parental Divorce
The Role of Reproductive Strategies in Academic Attainment
Ecological and Psychosocial Correlates of Male Homosexuality
Predictions were tested using the Human Relations Area Files database that (a) homo-sexuality would be rarer in hunter-gatherer societies and (b) psychosocial stressors of women would predict its increased frequency. Homosexual frequency decreased as a function of amount of gathering practiced and increased with size of the local community, supporting the first prediction. Lack of control by women in sexual matters predicted increased homosexuali…
Women's Dress Fashions as a Function of Reproductive Strategy
The Sex Ratio as a Predictor of Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime
Because low-sex-ratio societies are likely to have increased family conflict, and because family conflict increases aggression, it was predicted that these societies would have higher rates of violent crimes such as homicide, rape, and assaults. These predictions were supported in regression analyses of Interpol data for 70 countries that used a variety of controls for level of economic development, ecology (mean temperature, population density, …
On the Relationship Between Country Sex Ratios and Teen Pregnancy Rates
The hypothesis that a low ratio of men to women both destabilizes marriages and makes it more likely that young women will reproduce early outside of marriage was supported by an analysis of 42 societies for which the United Nations published detailed information on population structure and teen childbearing. This study attempted to replicate the earlier finding using sex ratios for 0- to 14-year-olds (as a proxy for teen sex ratios) and a larger…
Gender Differences in Effects of Mood on Body Image
Marital Opportunity, Parental Investment, and Teen Birth Rates of Blacks and Whites in American States
This study used parental investment theory to identify predictors of teen pregnancy rates for Blacks and Whites for 41 U.S. states for which data were available for 1995. Regression models were built that predicted Black teen births, White teen births, and both together using indices of parental investment (unemployment, prison incarceration rates, poverty, marital opportunity for women as indexed by gender ratios) and controlling for economic de…
On the Relationship between Marital Opportunity and Teen Pregnancy
Since Guttentag and Secord proposed that low sex ratios (i.e., scarcity of men) produce marital instability and high rates of nonmarital pregnancy, empirical investigations of this issue have produced weak and conflicting results. This study sought to clarify the issue using cross-national data compiled by the United Nations. Geographical region, per capita gross national product (GNP), the marriage rate, and whether the sample was urban or rural…
Parental Investment, Human Capital, and Cross-National Differences in Wealth
Economists have recently turned to family variables in search of explanations for why the economies of some countries grow more rapidly than others. This research tested the hypothesis that crossnational indicators of parental investment and human capital would be predictive of GNP per capita of 147 countries. Regression analysis found that close to two thirds of the variance in GNP was explained by parental investment factors (including total fe…
Parental Investment Prospects and Teen Birth Rates of Blacks and Whites in American Metropolitan Areas
Parental investment theory was used to identify predictors of nonmarital teen birth rates for Blacks and Whites in U.S. metropolitan areas. Regression models predicted Black teen births, White teen births, and both together using indices of parental investment (male income, unemployment rates, marital opportunity for women) with various controls. White teen births decreased with increased marital opportunity for women, and the same was true of Bl…
On the Relationship Between Fertility and Geographic Latitude
Mammalian reproduction is strongly affected by photoperiod and ambient temperature. Although human fertility is seasonal, there has been little systematic investigation of cross-national variation in fertility as a function of latitude and climate. This study investigated the relationship between total fertility rates in 187 countries and average latitude and average winter and summer temperatures. Total fertility rate in countries below 33° lati…
Does Parental Investment Increase Wealth, or Does Wealth Increase Parental Investment
Possible causal relationships between parental investment and economic growth and productivity were investigated cross-nationally. Composite variables were constructed to measure parental investment (PI), human capital (HC), national health, government effectiveness, and economic development for 148 countries. Some composites were highly intercorrelated, particularly PI, HC, and health, and all predicted absolute (dollar value) annual growth (199…
Divorce and Reduced Economic and Emotional Interdependence
This cross-national study of 1996 divorce rates in 76 countries tested two hypotheses, that divorce would increase with economic independence of women (indexed by gross national product, female labor, literacy, and urbanization) and with reduced emotional commitment of spouses to marriage (as indexed by low population sex ratios, low fertility, high teen births, polygyny). Both hypotheses were strongly supported in a regression analysis controlli…
Paternal Investment Prospects and Cross-National Differences in Single Parenthood
Previous research has shown that when young women have diminished prospects of paternal investment in their children, they are more likely to reproduce as teens. This study investigated whether high rates of nonmarital births for 85 countries would be predicted by diminished prospects of paternal investment as measured by high male unemployment, low wealth (gross national product [GNP]), low sex ratios, and high teen birth rates. It was predicted…
The Sex Ratio and Female Marital Opportunity as Historical Predictors of Violent Crime in England, Scotland, and the United States
The effects of sex ratios and marriage markets on violent crime were investigated by regression analysis of temporal variation in violent crime rates in England and Wales (1856 to 1980), Scotland (1871 to 1980), and homicides in the United States (1900 to 1988). Independent variables included the sex ratio of adults (15 to 44 years), marital opportunity of women (ratio of single men to women at the peak age of marriage), illegitimacy ratios, and …
Sex ratio at birth, polygyny, and fertility
The sex ratio at birth may reflect frequency of intercourse that affects the timing of conception. If so, cross-national variation in polygyny and fertility might account for country differences in secondary sex ratios. Consistent with the timing of intercourse hypothesis, the birth sex ratios of 148 countries declined with total fertility rates and polygyny intensity, and increased with contraception use in correlational analysis. Regression ana…
Single Parenthood as a Predictor of Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime
This article investigates the role of single parenthood ratios in predicting violent-crime rates (murders, rapes, assaults) of 39 countries and pitted the predictions of parental investment theory (calling for delayed effects) against those of mating aggression (calling for immediate effects). Regression analyses that controlled for masculinity of the population (sex ratio of 15-to 64-year-olds) and national wealth (log gross national product, GN…
Reduced Female Marriage Opportunity and History of Single Parenthood
This study investigated whether historical changes in nonmarital birth ratios would respond to the availability of marriageable men. Nonmarital birth ratios for Scotland (1861 to 1980), England (1851 to 1980), and the United States (1800 to 1988) were studied at 4-year or 5-year intervals. Nonmarital births were negatively correlated with the supply of single men in each country. Regression analyses controlling for time trend and economic prosper…
Why is violent crime so common in the Americas
Violent crimes, including murders, rapes, and assaults are substantially higher in the Americas than other regions of the world. This study investigated the role of single parenthood ratios in accounting for this regional variation in violent crime of 39 countries using INTERPOL data. It pitted the prediction of parental investment (calling for a delayed relationship between single parenthood and crime) against a mating aggression hypothesis that…
Is the Effect of National Wealth on Academic Achievement Mediated by Mass Media and Computers
Could the educational advantage of wealthy countries be due to their mass media and computers? The 1999 Third International Mathematics and Science Study math and science scores and 2001 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study reading scores were used to investigate whether cross-national differences in academic achievement would be positively related to information exposure (newspapers, TV, computers). Math, science, and reading scores …
Evolutionary Explanations for Societal Differences and Historical Change in Violent Crime and Single Parenthood
This article argues that social science can be conducted beneath the umbrella of natural science and evolutionary theory. Evolutionary social science makes four key causal assumptions: (a) that modern societies owe their character to an interaction of hunter—gatherer adaptations with the modern environment, (b) that some changes in societies reflect change in individuals, (c) that historical changes and cross-societal differences can be due to si…
Explaining Cross-National Differences in Polygyny Intensity
Possible adaptive functions of polygyny include resource-defense, scarcity of men, and countering a high pathogen load, and cultural determinists posit religion and gender discrimination as factors. Using a sample of 32 polygynous countries broken down by urban and rural location, each of these explanations of polygyny was tested in regression analysis. Polygyny increased in tropical countries having plenty of arable land and unequal distribution…
Psychology (26 obras) · Demography (21 obras) · Economics (20 obras) · Sociology (20 obras) · Population (18 obras) · Demographic economics (17 obras) · Demography (17 obras) · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior (15 obras) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (15 obras) · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences (14 obras)