Parents' Reproductive Concerns and Negativity Toward Their Child Disclosing a Minoritized Sexual Orientation.

Parents often respond negatively when a child discloses their minoritized sexual orientation. We propose that parents' negativity in this context may be shaped by evolutionary concerns regarding their children's reproductive outcomes. We tested relevant hypotheses in a correlational study (Study 1) and two randomized experiments (Studies 2 and 3) that recruited parents with children under age 6 as participants. Study 1 (N = 386; 192 mothers and 194 fathers; 84.68% non-Hispanic White) revealed associations between parents' concerns regarding their children's reproductive outcomes and views toward a child disclosing a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) orientation in the future. The most negative views were reported by parents with elevated reproductive concerns and pessimistic beliefs about the possibility of reproduction for LGB individuals. Studies 2 (N = 327 mothers; 84.10% non-Hispanic White) and 3 (N = 279 fathers; 81.00% non-Hispanic White) tested whether information about reproductive assistance available to same-gender couples might promote more favorable views toward a child's hypothetical LGB orientation disclosure relative to control information. Parents who received reproductive versus control information reported more positive attitudes toward having an LGB child and toward the LGB community. These effects were statistically mediated by their more optimistic beliefs about the possibility of LGB reproduction. Taken together, this work suggests that reproductive concerns may influence parents' views toward their children's sexual orientation disclosures, and alleviating these concerns may be one way to improve parents' relationships with their sexually diverse children.

Hidden talents in context: Cognitive performance with abstract versus ecological stimuli among adversity-exposed youth.

Adversity-exposed youth tend to score lower on cognitive tests. However, the hidden talents approach proposes some abilities are enhanced by adversity, especially under ecologically relevant conditions. Two versions of an attention-shifting and working memory updating task-one abstract, one ecological-were administered to 618 youth (Mage  = 13.62, SDage  = 0.81; 48.22% female; 64.56% White). Measures of environmental unpredictability, violence, and poverty were collected to test adversity × task version interactions. There were no interactions for attention shifting. For working memory updating, youth exposed to violence and poverty scored lower than their peers with abstract stimuli but almost just as well with ecological stimuli. These results are striking compared to contemporary developmental science, which often reports lowered performance among adversity-exposed youth.

Effects of Fathers on Adolescent Daughters' Frequency of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behavior.

This research: (1) implements a genetically informed design to examine the effects of fathers' presence-absence and quality of behavior during childhood/adolescence on daughters' frequency of substance use during adolescence; and (2) tests substance use frequency as mediating the relation between paternal behavior and daughters' sexual risk taking. Participants were 223 sister dyads from divorced/separated biological families. Sisters' developmental exposure to socially deviant paternal behavior predicted their frequency of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis (TAC) use. Older sisters who co-resided with fathers who were more (vs. less) socially deviant reported more frequent TAC use during adolescence. More frequent TAC use predicted more risky sexual behavior for these daughters. No effects were found for younger sisters, who spent less time living with their fathers.

Predicting human adiposity - sometimes - with food insecurity: Broaden the model for better accuracy.

The target article explores the role of food insecurity as a contemporary risk factor for human overweight and obesity. The authors provide conditional support for the insurance hypothesis among adult women from high-income countries. We consider the potential contribution of additional factors in producing variation in adiposity patterns between species and across human contexts.

Low Childhood Socioeconomic Status Promotes Eating in the Absence of Energy Need.

Life-history theory predicts that exposure to conditions typical of low socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood will calibrate development in ways that promote survival in harsh and unpredictable ecologies. Guided by this insight, the current research tested the hypothesis that low childhood SES will predict eating in the absence of energy need. Across three studies, we measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Studies 2 and 3) participants' energy need and gave them the opportunity to eat provided snacks. Participants also reported their SES during childhood and their current SES. Results revealed that people who grew up in high-SES environments regulated their food intake on the basis of their immediate energy need; they ate more when their need was high than when their need was low. This relationship was not observed among people who grew up in low-SES environments. These individuals consumed comparably high amounts of food when their current energy need was high and when it was low. Childhood SES may have a lasting impact on food regulation.

Tempting foods and the affordability axiom: Food cues change beliefs about the costs of healthy eating.

Many consumers report that healthy eating is more expensive than unhealthy eating (the affordability axiom). We hypothesize that endorsement of this belief may be driven by the motivation to eat unhealthy foods. We tested this hypothesis in three studies. Study 1 revealed that the affordability axiom is associated with poorer eating habits and higher Body Mass Index (BMI). Study 2 found that the presence of a tasty food cue in the environment increased endorsement of affordability axiom. Study 3 found that these effects were moderated by one's food intake goals. Food cues led non-dieters to increase endorsement of the affordability axiom, but had the opposite effect among those seeking to restrict their calorie intake. The affordability axiom might persist as a means of validating unhealthy food choices.

Examining Associations Between Participant Gender, Desired Partner Gender, and Views Toward Sexually Coercive Behaviors.

Sexual coercion-pursuit of sexual activity with a partner who has not provided full consent (Huppin & Malamuth, Sexual Coercion, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2015) is a pervasive problem that carries psychological and financial costs. Although much past research has focused on sexually coercive acts performed by men and directed at women, the current work evaluates the independent and interactive roles of participant gender, desired partner gender, and sexual orientation in predicting individuals' views toward sexual coercion, a psychological outcome linked with coercive sexual behavior (e.g., Zinzow & Thompson in Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44:213-222, 2015). To this end, 1021 cisgender men and women (M age = 26.46 years) who self-identified as heterosexual, gay/lesbian, or bisexual rated the acceptability of sexually coercive behaviors performed by individuals of their gender. Consistent with past behavioral research, men rated these acts to be more acceptable when performed by same-gender others than did women. Extending past research, this gender difference was observed across variation in desired partner genders and sexual orientations. Further, an attraction to women predicted higher acceptability ratings among men but not among women. Finally, identification as heterosexual (as compared to gay/lesbian or bisexual) predicted more favorable views toward these behaviors across participant gender. Taken together, these findings suggest that men who are attracted to women (specifically) may be most likely to view coercive behaviors as acceptable, and thus may be most likely to utilize them, when pursuing sexual activity. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40806-022-00337-w.

The effects of fathers on daughters' expectations for men.

Guided by paternal investment theory (PIT), the current research examines the effects of fathers on daughters' expectations for men in adulthood, and the role of these expectations in mediating women's short-term (casual or uncommitted) sexual behavior. Using a genetically informed differential sibling-exposure design (N = 223 sister pairs from divorced/separated families), we found that developmental exposure to low-quality paternal behavior (but not paternal absence per se) predicted adult women's expectations for men as partners. For older sisters, who spent much of their childhoods living with their fathers, lower-quality paternal behavior predicted lower expectations for male investment in their relationships as adults. Moreover, lower expectations for men as partners predicted higher numbers of sexual partners (past and anticipated) among these women. By contrast, for younger sisters, who spent relatively little time coresiding with their fathers, no such effects of quality of paternal behavior were observed. The current work provides evidence that exposure to low-quality paternal behavior during development may help calibrate daughters' expectations for the behavior of male relationship partners, and these expectations may shape their sexual behavior in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The effects of paternal disengagement on women's perceptions of male mating intent.

Previous research demonstrates reliable associations between low paternal investment and daughters' precocious and risky sexual behavior. However, little is known about the psychological changes that occur in response to paternal disengagement that encourage these patterns. Here, we aim to redress this empirical gap by testing the effects of paternal disengagement on women's perceptions of male mating intent. In 4 experiments, women who described their fathers' absence (vs. a comparison state) perceived greater: mating intent in the described actions of a hypothetical dating partner (Study 1), sexual arousal in male target faces (Studies 2 and 3), and mating interest from a male confederate (Study 4). In a mixed-methods study (Study 5), women with greater developmental exposure to harsh-deviant paternal behavior perceived greater sexual intent in men's actions than women with lesser exposure. Moreover, these perceptual differences predicted unrestricted sociosexuality among women in this sample. An internal meta-analysis (N = 408) across studies provided support for a relationship between paternal disengagement and women's perceptions of male sexual intent. Together, this research suggests that low paternal investment (including primed paternal disengagement and harsh-deviant fathering) causes changes in daughters' perceptions of men that may influence their subsequent mating behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record

Impact of fathers on parental monitoring of daughters and their affiliation with sexually promiscuous peers: A genetically and environmentally controlled sibling study.

Girls who receive higher quality fathering engage in less risky sexual behavior (RSB) than their peers. Previous research identifies higher levels of parental monitoring/knowledge and reduced affiliation with deviant peers as potential mediators of this observed fathering effect. Although paternal investment theory posits a causal effect of fathers on daughters' RSB, and on the intervening processes that mediate this effect, these relations could arise from genetic or environmental confounds. To address this limitation, we employed the genetically- and environmentally controlled differential sibling-exposure design (N = 101 sister pairs; ages 18-36), which retrospectively examines the effects of differential sibling exposure to family disruption/father absence and quality of fathering. Consistent with a causal explanation, differences between older and younger sisters in the effects of fathering quality on parental monitoring and peer RSB were greatest in biologically disrupted families when there was a large age gap between the sisters (thus maximizing differential exposure to fathers), with greater exposure within families to higher quality fathering increasing parental monitoring and reducing affiliation with sexually promiscuous peers. No such differences were found between older and younger sisters in families with little or no differential exposure to fathers (e.g., biologically intact families) or in response to differences in mothering quality. Taken together, these findings suggest that higher quality fathering may decrease daughters' engagement in RSB by increasing the amount of parental monitoring that they receive and decreasing their affiliation with peers who promote RSB. (PsycINFO Database Record

The impact of perceived disease threat on women's desire for novel dating and sexual partners: is variety the best medicine?

Researchers in the evolutionary sciences have long understood men's desire to mate with a variety of women. Because men's obligatory investment in offspring production is relatively small, men can directly increase their number of descendants by mating with multiple partners. Relatively less is known, however, about the conditions that favor sexual variety seeking in women. Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and behavioral ecology, we examined the relationship between the perceived pathogen load in an environment and women's desire for sexual variety. Across 5 experiments, we primed women with cues indicating that the rate of disease is increasing in their environment. We then measured their desire for novel sexual and dating partners. Results revealed that women with a history of vulnerability to illness respond to these cues by desiring a greater number of novel partners. This shift was not found in men and did not predict variety seeking in a nonsexual domain. In addition to providing evidence of a novel conceptual link between the pathogen load and patterns of human mating behavior, this research also provides new insights into women's mating psychology and the conditions that favor sexual variety seeking in the greater investing sex.

The effects of paternal disengagement on women's sexual decision making: an experimental approach.

An abundance of research demonstrates a robust association between father absence--or low-quality paternal involvement--and daughters' accelerated sexual development, promiscuity, and sexual risk taking. Although recent natural experiments provide support for fathers playing a causal role in these outcomes, these effects have not been examined using a randomized experimental design to eliminate genetic and environmental confounds inherent in previous studies. We redressed this empirical gap by experimentally testing the effects of primed paternal disengagement cues on women's sexual decision making. Across 5 experiments, reminders of paternal disengagement increased women's activation of sexual thoughts (Experiment 1), sexual permissiveness (Experiments 2-4), and negativity toward condom use (Experiment 5). Moreover, these effects were specific to women's sexual decision making, as paternal disengagement cues failed to influence women's willingness to take nonsexual risks (Experiment 4) or men's risky sexual attitudes (Experiment 5). These results provide the first true experimental evidence supporting a causal relationship between paternal disengagement and changes in women's psychology that promote risky sexual behavior.

(Not) bringing up baby: the effects of jealousy on the desire to have and invest in children.

The present research uses insights from evolutionary psychology and social cognition to explore the relationship between jealousy-both experimentally activated and chronically accessible-on men's and women's desire to start a family and invest in children. In our first two studies, we found that chronically jealous men and women responded to primed infidelity threat by exhibiting a diminished interest in infants (Study 1) and reporting less happiness upon receiving pregnancy news (Study 2) relative to controls. Study 3 extended these results by examining the effects of jealousy on desired parental investment. Consistent with the proposed theoretical framework, chronically jealous men, but not women, respond to infidelity threat by decreasing their desired level of parental investment relative to controls. Together, these results provide novel empirical support for the hypothesis that jealousy functions to attenuate the reproductive costs associated with partner infidelity.

Friends with benefits, but without the sex: straight women and gay men exchange trustworthy mating advice.

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.

The cognitive consequences of envy: attention, memory, and self-regulatory depletion.

In a series of 4 experiments, we provide evidence that--in addition to having an affective component--envy may also have important consequences for cognitive processing. Our first experiment (N = 69) demonstrated that individuals primed with envy better attended to and more accurately recalled information about fictitious peers than did a control group. Studies 2 (N = 187) and 3 (N = 65) conceptually replicated these results, demonstrating that envy elicited by targets predicts attention and later memory for information about them. We demonstrate that these effects cannot be accounted for by admiration or changes in negative affect or arousal elicited by the targets. Study 4 (N = 152) provides evidence that greater memory for envied--but not neutral--targets leads to diminished perseverance on a difficult anagram task. Findings demonstrate that envy may play an important role in attention and memory systems and deplete limited self-regulatory resources available for acts of volition.