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. 2020 Jan;4(1):20-26.
doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0654-y. Epub 2019 Jul 22.

Patterns of paternal investment predict cross-cultural variation in jealous response

Brooke A Scelza  1 , Sean P Prall  2 , Tami Blumenfield  3 , Alyssa N Crittenden  4 , Michael Gurven  5 , Michelle Kline  6 , Jeremy Koster  7 , Geoff Kushnick  8 , Siobhán M Mattison  9 , Elizabeth Pillsworth  10 , Mary K Shenk  11 , Kathrine Starkweather  9 , Jonathan Stieglitz  12 , Chun-Yi Sum  13 , Kyoko Yamaguchi  14 , Richard McElreath  15
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Patterns of paternal investment predict cross-cultural variation in jealous response

Brooke A Scelza et al. Nat Hum Behav. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Long-lasting, romantic partnerships are a universal feature of human societies, but almost as ubiquitous is the risk of instability when one partner strays. Jealous response to the threat of infidelity is well studied, but most empirical work on the topic has focused on a proposed sex difference in the type of jealousy (sexual or emotional) that men and women find most upsetting, rather than on how jealous response varies1,2. This stems in part from the predominance of studies using student samples from industrialized populations, which represent a relatively homogenous group in terms of age, life history stage and social norms3,4. To better understand variation in jealous response, we conducted a 2-part study in 11 populations (1,048 individuals). In line with previous work, we find a robust sex difference in the classic forced-choice jealousy task. However, we also show substantial variation in jealous response across populations. Using parental investment theory, we derived several predictions about what might trigger such variation. We find that greater paternal investment and lower frequency of extramarital sex are associated with more severe jealous response. Thus, partner jealousy appears to be a facultative response, reflective of the variable risks and costs of men's investment across societies.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1 |
Fig. 1 |. Location of study populations.
Sample size for each population is presented in the boxes, broken out by sex (male/female) (n = 1,048).
Fig. 2 |
Fig. 2 |. Severity ratings and forced-choice responses by respondent sex and culture.
Rows 1-4 show the percent severity ratings according to Likert scale responses (very bad to very good) for each type of infidelity (n = 1,038). The final row shows the percent of respondents who were more upset by sexual than emotional infidelity when given a forced choice (n = 1,021). LA, Los Angeles.
Fig. 3 |
Fig. 3 |. Influence of predictor variables on severity ratings.
Posterior distributions (posterior mean and 89% PI) for individually run models for key predictors of participant ratings on the severity scales. Where the majority of the distribution falls either below or above zero, the predictor is believed to have a meaningful impact. Negative scores indicate greater severity judgements. Both paternal investment and the frequency of extramarital sex are predictive of severity scores for sexual infidelity only (in opposite directions). Full model results are shown in the Supplementary Information.
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