Understanding domestic violence against women: using evolutionary psychology to extend the feminist functional analysis

Misogynistic Tweets Correlate With Violence Against Women

How online social behavior covaries with real-world outcomes remains poorly understood. We examined the relationship between the frequency of misogynistic attitudes expressed on Twitter and incidents of domestic and family violence that were reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We tracked misogynistic tweets in more than 400 areas across 47 American states from 2013 to 2014. Correlation and regression analyses found that misogynistic tweets were related to domestic- and family-violence incidents in those areas. A cross-lagged model showed that misogynistic tweets positively predicted domestic and family violence 1 year later; however, this effect was small. Results were robust to several known predictors of domestic violence. Our findings identify geolocated online misogyny as co-occurring with domestic and family violence. Because the longitudinal relationship between misogynistic tweets and domestic and family violence was small and conducted at the societal level, more research with multilevel data might be useful in the prediction of future violence.

The Influence of Demographic, Relational, and Risk Asymmetries on the Frequency of Intimate Partner Violence in Young Adulthood

Social characteristics are prominent factors in mate selection, but they can be risk factors for intimate partner violence. Yet this prior work is limited, as it largely focuses on demographic differences (or asymmetries) between intimate partners. In addition to demographic asymmetries, we explored how differences in relational and risk behaviors were associated with intimate partner violence. Examining data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) (n=828), we found that either partner's unemployment is associated with greater frequency of relationship violence; and, compared to same-race relationships, interracial relationships reported higher frequency of partner violence. Additionally, relationships in which men compared to their partners were more invested, were characterized by lower frequency of violence. Relationships characterized by any asymmetry in power, compared to those in which both partners held equal power, were also characterized by higher frequency of partner violence. Relationships in which the female partner was more successful at school or work compared to the male partner were associated with more frequent partner violence. Lastly, compared to relationships in which neither partner engaged in antisocial/criminal activity, those in which the male, but not female partner was antisocial/criminal and those in which both partners engaged in antisocial/criminal activity reported greater frequency of partner violence. These findings highlighted the importance of considering different types of asymmetries for understanding intimate partner violence in young adult relationships.

How evolutionary behavioural sciences can help us understand behaviour in a pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought science into the public eye and to the attention of governments more than ever before. Much of this attention is on work in epidemiology, virology and public health, with most behavioural advice in public health focusing squarely on 'proximate' determinants of behaviour. While epidemiological models are powerful tools to predict the spread of disease when human behaviour is stable, most do not incorporate behavioural change. The evolutionary basis of our preferences and the cultural evolutionary dynamics of our beliefs drive behavioural change, so understanding these evolutionary processes can help inform individual and government decision-making in the face of a pandemic. Lay summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought behavioural sciences into the public eye: Without vaccinations, stopping the spread of the virus must rely on behaviour change by limiting contact between people. On the face of it, "stop seeing people" sounds simple. In practice, this is hard. Here we outline how an evolutionary perspective on behaviour change can provide additional insights. Evolutionary theory postulates that our psychology and behaviour did not evolve to maximize our health or that of others. Instead, individuals are expected to act to maximise their inclusive fitness (i.e, spreading our genes) - which can lead to a conflict between behaviours that are in the best interests for the individual, and behaviours that stop the spread of the virus. By examining the ultimate explanations of behaviour related to pandemic-management (such as behavioural compliance and social distancing), we conclude that "good of the group" arguments and "one size fits all" policies are unlikely to encourage behaviour change over the long-term. Sustained behaviour change to keep pandemics at bay is much more likely to emerge from environmental change, so governments and policy makers may need to facilitate significant social change - such as improving life experiences for disadvantaged groups.

Risk of perpetrating intimate partner violence amongst men exposed to torture in conflict-affected Timor-Leste

BACKGROUND

A key issue in need of empirical exploration in the post-conflict and refugee mental health field is whether exposure to torture plays a role in generating risk of intimate partner violence (IPV), and whether this pathway is mediated by the mental health effects of torture-related trauma. In examining this question, it is important to assess the impact of socio-economic hardship which may be greater amongst survivors of torture in low-income countries.

METHODS

The study data were obtained from a cohort of 870 women (recruited from antenatal clinics) and their male partners in Dili district, Timor-Leste. We conducted bivariate and path analysis to test for associations of men's age, socioeconomic status, torture exposure, and mental disturbance, with IPV (the latter reported by women).

RESULTS

The path analysis indicated positive paths from a younger age, torture exposure, and lower socio-economic status amongst men leading to mental disturbance. Mental disturbance, in turn, led to IPV. In addition, younger age, lower socio-economic status, torture exposure, and mental disturbance were directly associated with IPV.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data provide the first systematic evidence of an association between torture and IPV in a low-income, post-conflict country, confirming that low socio-economic status, partly related to being a torture survivor, adds to the risk. The high prevalence of IPV in this context suggests that other structural factors, such as persisting patriarchal attitudes, contribute to the risk of IPV. Early detection and prevention programs may assist in reducing the risk of IPV in families in which men have experienced torture.

Adaptation of the Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance Scale to Portuguese and Tests of Its Convergent, Divergent, and Predictive Validities

The Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance Scale was adapted to Portuguese (PDVMAS). The PDVMAS displayed reasonable fit indices (Study 1); was positively correlated with right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, belief in a just world (Study 2), and ambivalent sexism (Study 3); and negatively correlated with empathetic tendencies (Study 4). PDVMAS significantly predicted victim blame and aggressor exoneration in scenarios of coercion (Study 5) and physical assault (Study 6). Victims and non-victims of domestic violence equally endorsed domestic violence myths. Globally, the PDVMAS is a reliable instrument, and domestic violence myths are pervasive and alter the perception of intimate partner violence.

Facial Features: What Women Perceive as Attractive and What Men Consider Attractive

Attractiveness plays an important role in social exchange and in the ability to attract potential mates, especially for women. Several facial traits have been described as reliable indicators of attractiveness in women, but very few studies consider the influence of several measurements simultaneously. In addition, most studies consider just one of two assessments to directly measure attractiveness: either self-evaluation or men's ratings. We explored the relationship between these two estimators of attractiveness and a set of facial traits in a sample of 266 young Spanish women. These traits are: facial fluctuating asymmetry, facial averageness, facial sexual dimorphism, and facial maturity. We made use of the advantage of having recently developed methodologies that enabled us to measure these variables in real faces. We also controlled for three other widely used variables: age, body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio. The inclusion of many different variables allowed us to detect any possible interaction between the features described that could affect attractiveness perception. Our results show that facial fluctuating asymmetry is related both to self-perceived and male-rated attractiveness. Other facial traits are related only to one direct attractiveness measurement: facial averageness and facial maturity only affect men's ratings. Unmodified faces are closer to natural stimuli than are manipulated photographs, and therefore our results support the importance of employing unmodified faces to analyse the factors affecting attractiveness. We also discuss the relatively low equivalence between self-perceived and male-rated attractiveness and how various anthropometric traits are relevant to them in different ways. Finally, we highlight the need to perform integrated-variable studies to fully understand female attractiveness.

The effects of intimate partner violence on women and child survivors: an attachment perspective

Approximately 25% of women in the United States report having experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) in an adult relationship with a male partner. For affected women, IPV has been shown to increase the risk of psychopathology such as depression, anxiety, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Further, studies suggest that the risk of IPV (victimization or perpetration) may be carried intergenerationally, and children exposed to IPV are at a greater risk of both attachment insecurity and internalizing/externalizing problems. The authors employ an attachment perspective to describe how insecure/non-balanced working models of the relational self and others may be evoked by, elicit, or exacerbate maladaptive outcomes following experiences of IPV for mothers and their children. This article draws on both rich theory and empirical evidence in a discussion of attachment patterns in violent relationships, psychopathological outcomes for exposed women, disruptions in the caregiving relationship that may confer risk to children of exposed mothers, and the biological, social, and attachment risk factors for children exposed to IPV. A clinical case example is presented and discussed in the context of attachment theory.

From Mate Retention to Murder: Evolutionary Psychological Perspectives on Men's Partner-Directed Violence

In response to the tragically high incidence and negative consequences of female-directed violence in intimate relationships, a large literature has been dedicated to the investigation of the proximate and the ultimate or evolutionary predictors of men's partner-directed violence. Evolutionary psychology offers a framework for investigating the design of evolved information-processing mechanisms that motivate costly behaviors such as men's partner-directed violence. We review several forms of men's partner-directed violence, including insults, sexual coercion, physical violence, and homicide, from an evolutionary psychological perspective and with a particular focus on the adaptive problem of paternity uncertainty. The problem of paternity uncertainty is hypothesized to have selected for the emotion of male sexual jealousy, which in turn motivates men's nonviolent and violent mate retention behaviors. We review empirical evidence for the relationships among paternity uncertainty, male sexual jealousy, and men's partner-directed violence. We propose that a comprehensive understanding of men's partner-directed violence will be achieved only by careful consideration of both proximate and ultimate causes.

The role of neighborhood environment and risk of intimate partner femicide in a large urban area

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated the contribution of neighborhood-level factors indicative of social disorganization, including educational and occupational attainment, immigrant concentration, physical disorder, and social cohesion, to the likelihood of intimate partner femicide (IPF) while taking into account known neighborhood- and individual-level IPF risk factors.

METHODS

We used medical examiner data on 1861 femicide victims between 1990 and 1999 and archival information on 59 neighborhoods in New York City to conduct a multilevel case-control analysis.

RESULTS

After controlling for neighborhood-level income, we found that no neighborhood factors were significantly associated with IPF risk, as compared with risk of non-IPF and risk of femicide from unknown perpetrators, above and beyond the contributions of individual-level factors. The strongest predictors of IPF were foreign country of birth and young age.

CONCLUSIONS

IPF victims were nearly twice as likely as non-IPF victims to be foreign born; by contrast, there was little neighborhood-level heterogeneity with respect to IPF risk. Further research is needed to identify neighborhood characteristics that uniquely influence risk of IPF to guide community-level interventions.

2D:4D and sexually dimorphic facial characteristics

The second-to-fourth-digit ratio (2D:4D) may be related to prenatal testosterone and estrogen levels and pubertal face growth. Several studies have recently provided evidence that 2D:4D is associated with other-rated facial masculinity and dominance, but not with facialmetric measures of masculinity. We found that localized face shape differences, shown here to be sexually dimorphic and related to ratings of dominance, were associated with direct and indirect measurements of 2D:4D. In this study we examined various localized features of the face, showing nose width, jaw angle, and lip height to be sexually dimorphic. We then had faces rated for dominance and saw that the most dimorphic characteristics were those most associated with rated dominance, with typically masculine characteristics tending to be associated with high ratings of dominance. Finally, 2D:4D measurements were made using three different techniques. High (feminine) values of 2D:4D were associated with feminine facial characteristics in women, but not in men. It was concluded that certain aspects of facial development are governed by factors that are established prenatally. These aspects may be associated with perceptions of the self by others that are important in the social environment, particularly in terms of intra-sexual competition and mate acquisition.