Is mating psychology most closely tied to biological sex or preferred partner's sex?

Relationship Status Rather than Sociosexuality or Sexual Orientation Predicts Male Sexual Functioning

Male sexual functioning is a prerequisite for conception and consequently for reproduction and is thus a crucial mechanism from an evolutionary and social perspective. Previous studies reported better sexual functioning in coupled compared to single individuals. However, it is not clear whether sexual functioning increases or decreases with a short-term casual sexual strategy, which is another possibility, along with a long-term strategy. Furthermore, sexual orientation may represent yet another mating strategy that may influence sexual functioning. Here, we aimed to test the possible associations between male sexual functioning and sexual strategies, as measured through sociosexuality, relationship status, and sexual orientation. We hypothesize that due to its relationship with the evolved motivation of mate acquisition and mate retention, both stable relationships and sociosexuality would be positively associated with male sexual functioning. We did not expect significant differences in sexual functioning among men with different sexual orientations. We sampled 427 healthy men of different sexual orientations (203 heterosexuals, 77 bisexuals, and 147 gay men) who completed the Male Sexual Function Index (MSFI) and its subscales of desire, arousal, erection, orgasm, and satisfaction; the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory-Revised; and sociodemographic questions. A multivariate general linear model showed that, compared to single individuals, partnered individuals reported greater MSFI-arousal, MSFI-erection, MSFI-orgasm, and MSFI-satisfaction. Sociosexuality and sexual orientation only weakly predicted MSFI domains. Male sexual functioning thus seems to be moderately associated with a long-term mating strategy and can thus serve for relationship maintenance rather than for acquiring new partners.

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.

What Do Different People Look for in a Partner? Effects of Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Mating Strategies on Partner Preferences

Partner preferences are an important differential in relationship formation and evolutionary fitness, and vary according to individual, ecological, and social factors. In this study, we evaluated the variation in preference for intelligence, kindness, physical attractiveness, health, and socioeconomic level among individuals of different sexes and sexual orientations in a Brazilian sample. We analyzed the preference scores of 778 heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual men and women in three budgeted mate design tasks (low vs. medium vs. high budget) and their association with sociosexuality, attachment styles, homogamy, and willingness to engage in short- and long-term relationships. Results indicated a global trait preference order, with intelligence ranking first, followed by kindness, physical attractiveness, health, and lastly by socioeconomic status. Typical sex differences were observed mostly within the heterosexual group, and specific combinations of sex and sexual orientation were linked to variation in preference for physical attractiveness, kindness, and socioeconomic status. We also found unique associations of the other variables with partner preferences and with willingness to engage in short- or long-term relationships. By exploring the partner preferences of non-heterosexual individuals from a Latin American country, an underrepresented group in evolutionary psychology research, our results help understand the universal and specific factors that guide partner preferences and human sexual behavior.

(Mis)Perceiving Sexual Intent: A Mixed-Method Approach Investigating Sexual Overperception Across Diverse Sexual Identities

Research on perceptions of sexual interest has documented the tendency for men to overperceive sexual interest (i.e., to perceive a social signal as indicating more sexual intent than the actor intended). However, this work has almost exclusively focused upon these dynamics among heterosexual individuals. Thus, the current set of studies aimed to understand how perceptions of sexual interest manifest among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) women and men. In Study 1 (N = 85), LGB women and men nominated behaviors that signal sexual intent. Using an act nomination approach, LGB women and men tended to nominate behaviors similar to those nominated by heterosexual women and men. In Study 2 (N = 43), gay men reported acts that were representative of their own and other gay men's sexual interest. Consistent with previous work-by comparing perceived self-reported versus others' sexual intent when engaging in specific behaviors-we found no evidence for a sexual overperception bias in gay men, albeit in a small field study. In Study 3 (N = 307), using a gender-by-sexual orientation design, heterosexual and LGB women and men reported previous experiences in which their friendliness was sexually misperceived. Bisexual women were less likely than other groups to report their friendliness being misinterpreted as sexual by other bisexual women and/or lesbians. Additionally, across all genders and sexual orientations, participants reported feelings of indifference, awkwardness and embarrassment when being misperceived. Ultimately, the current studies' results provide broader insight into the nature of sexual overperception among LGB populations.

Intersexual and Intrasexual Differences in Mate Selection Preferences Among Lesbian Women, Gay Men, and Bisexual Women and Men

Sex differences in mating strategies and partner preferences are well established. However, most research solely focused on heterosexual women and men. We examined the mate selection, marriage, and age preferences of a sample of lesbian women, gay men, and bisexual women and men (LGB) who took part in an online dating survey. Additionally, we analyzed inter- and intrasexual differences in these preferences. A total of 710 participants rated the importance of 82 mate selection criteria and 10 marriage criteria, and they also indicated their age preferences and short-term and long-term relationship orientation. An exploratory factor analysis suggested 11 relevant domains of mate selection in the LGB sample, with sex, age, and long-term relationship orientation being relevant predictors of differences in these domains. We compared the LGB data with data collected from 21,245 heterosexual women and men on the same mate selection criteria. Results showed that the participants' sex was the most important predictor of differences in mate selection and marriage preferences, while intrasexual variables (sexual orientation and relationship orientation) explained only a small part of the variance. We incorporated the results into the current discussion about partner preferences and sexual orientation.

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.

Jealousy Is Influenced by Sex of the Individual, Their Partner, and Their Rival

Jealousy is an affective state activated by a perceived threat to a valued relationship by a third party. On average, males report higher distress about their partner's sexual extra-pair involvement, while females show higher emotional jealousy. These sex differences are specific to heterosexuals and to contexts with potential reproductive costs. We tested the effect of sex and sexual orientation of the individual, and sex of the partner and potential rival on sexual versus emotional jealousy. Sexual orientation was operationalized as a willingness to form long-term relationships with men, women, or both. Heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual males (N = 416) and females (N = 1328) from Brazil, Chile, and Portugal responded to the Sexual vs. Emotional Jealousy Scale and then ranked their distress to four hypothetical scenarios: sexual or emotional involvement of their partner with a male or a female rival. This is the first study to simultaneously test for an effect of self, partner, and rival sex on jealousy: bisexual individuals responded twice, about a hypothetical female and about a male partner. Individuals were most preoccupied with their partner's emotional relationship with a rival of the same sex as the respondent. Heterosexual males reported higher sexual jealousy than the other groups, but did not differ from bisexual men responding about female partners. Bisexual females were more upset by sexual extra-pair involvement of their female (versus male) partners with a male rival. Thus, jealousy was influenced by sex and sexual orientation of the individuals, sex of the partners, and also by sex of the rivals: same-sex rivals were perceived as most threatening. This suggests that besides being a strategy to maintain a primary relationship, jealousy is particularly sensitive to same-sex competitors, being an intra-sexual competition strategy.

The Interactions Among Sexual Orientation, Masculine and Feminine Gender Role Orientation, and Facets of Sociosexuality in Young Heterosexual and Homosexual Men

The present study investigated the functional relationships among sexual orientation, masculine and feminine gender role orientation, and sociosexual orientation in 282 heterosexual and 282 homosexual young men. Homosexual men reported significantly more pronounced sociosexual behavior (d = 0.65) and desire (d = 0.31). Furthermore, homosexual men were characterized by lower masculine (d =-0.26) and higher feminine (d = 0.38) gender role orientation. Latent variable analyses revealed that homosexual men as well as more masculine men, irrespective of their sexual orientation, had more uncommitted sexual relations and more unrestricted sociosexual attitudes. A similar pattern could be identified for sociosexual desire. While homosexual men were more unrestricted in their sociosexual desire, this also held for more feminine men in general. Overall, findings indicated that homosexual orientation is positively associated with sociosexual orientation. In addition, masculine/feminine gender role orientations exert differential influences on the three facets of sociosexuality independent of sexual orientation.

On the Functional Relationships Among Sexual Orientation, Masculine and Feminine Gender Role Orientation, and Sociosexual Orientation in Young Heterosexual and Lesbian Women

The present study investigated the mutual interplay of sexual orientation, masculine and feminine gender role orientation, and sociosexual orientation in young women. To ensure cross-sample validity, 323 heterosexual women and 323 lesbian women, ranging in age from 18 to 29 years, were matched for possible confounding variables. Lesbian women scored significantly higher (d = 0.27) on the Desire subscale of the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory, but not on the Behavior (d = 0.07) and Attitude subscales (d = 0.11). Concerning gender role orientation, heterosexual women were characterized by significantly higher scores on the Femininity scale (d = 0.20), whereas lesbian women showed more pronounced masculine gender role orientation (d = 0.16). Structural equation modeling revealed two functionally distinct relationships between sexual orientation and sociosexuality, on the one hand, and between gender role orientation and sociosexuality, on the other hand. Sociosexual desire was exclusively associated with a woman's sexual orientation with no indication of any mediating effect of gender role orientation. Sociosexual behavior was positively related to a woman's level of masculine gender role orientation, while sociosexual attitude was positively associated with masculine and negatively associated with feminine gender role orientation, irrespective of sexual orientation.

Jealousy, Consent, and Compersion Within Monogamous and Consensually Non-Monogamous Romantic Relationships

Evolutionary psychological research has studied romantic jealousy extensively within monogamous relationships, but has largely ignored jealousy among partners who mutually consent to forming extra-pair relationships (i.e., consensual non-monogamy; CNM). We examined monogamous (n = 529) and CNM (n = 159) individuals' reactions to imagining their romantic partner(s)'s extra-pair involvement. For each romantic partner, men and women completed measures of relationship jealousy and reacted to scenarios of their partner's extra-pair emotional and sexual involvement. Scenarios prompted participants to indicate which type of involvement would be more distressing and more enjoyable. They also described whether or not participants had consented to their partner's extradyadic relationship. Monogamous men were more distressed by a partner's extradyadic sexual versus emotional involvement (and a partner's emotional involvement was more enjoyable) whether the scenario was consensual or not. Monogamous women were more distressed by a partner's emotional versus sexual involvement (and a partner's sexual involvement was more enjoyable) for consensual, but not non-consensual, scenarios. There were no gender differences among CNM participants. Monogamous individuals reported greater emotional distress toward a partner's imagined extradyadic involvement, whereas CNM individuals reported thinking about their partner's extra-pair relationships more frequently. Monogamous (vs. CNM) individuals reported greater confidence that their partner would never cheat on them (i.e., enter another relationship without their consent), and CNM participants were more confident that their primary versus secondary partner would never cheat, although this effect was stronger among CNM women. Moreover, CNM participants rated that it was more important that their primary versus secondary partner did not cheat, and reported greater distress imagining that their primary versus secondary partner had cheated. Women in CNM relationships rated it more important that their partner did not cheat sexually than emotionally. Finally, we replicated previous research showing that monogamous individuals mate guard more than CNM individuals, who mate guard their primary versus secondary partner more frequently. Future directions for developing evolutionary and romantic relationship research on CNM are discussed.

A Life History Approach to the Female Sexual Orientation Spectrum: Evolution, Development, Causal Mechanisms, and Health

Women's capacity for sexual fluidity is at least as interesting a phenomenon from the point of view of evolutionary biology and behavioral endocrinology as exclusively homosexual orientation. Evolutionary hypotheses for female nonheterosexuality have failed to fully account for the existence of these different categories of nonheterosexual women, while also overlooking broader data on the causal mechanisms, physiology, ontogeny, and phylogeny of female nonheterosexuality. We review the evolutionary-developmental origins of various phenotypes in the female sexual orientation spectrum using the synergistic approach of Tinbergen's four questions. We also present femme-specific and butch-specific hypotheses at proximate and ultimate levels of analysis. This review article indicates that various nonheterosexual female phenotypes emerge from and contribute to hormonally mediated fast life history strategies. Life history theory provides a biobehavioral explanatory framework for nonheterosexual women's masculinized body morphology, psychological dispositions, and their elevated likelihood of experiencing violence, substance use, obesity, teenage pregnancy, and lower general health. This pattern of life outcomes can create a feedback loop of environmental unpredictability and harshness which destabilizes intrauterine hormonal conditions in mothers, leading to a greater likelihood of fast life history strategies, global health problems, and nonheterosexual preferences in female offspring. We further explore the potential of female nonheterosexuality to function as an alloparental buffer that enables masculinizing alleles to execute their characteristic fast life history strategies as they appear in the female and the male phenotype. Synthesizing life history theory with the female sexual orientation spectrum enriches existing scientific knowledge on the evolutionary-developmental mechanisms of human sex differences.