TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of paternal disengagement on women's perceptions of male mating intent
AU - DelPriore, Danielle J.
AU - Leyva, Randi Proffitt
AU - Ellis, Bruce J.
AU - Hill, Sarah E.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research was supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (No. BCS-1322573) and TCU Invests in Scholarship. We thank Nila Shakiba, Mariah Beltran, Susan Brener, Samantha Dail, Julia Edwards, Tatum Foulds, Katherine Hahn, Katie Hermes, Courtney Hicks, Lauren Koltes, Lauren Nolan, Rachel Reyna, Kendra Sanguinetti, Elizabeth Grace Snell, Monique Timmons, Ariana Varelas, Ashleigh Wells, and Sierra Yslas for their research assistance with this project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2018/2/1
Y1 - 2018/2/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1037/pspi0000113
DO - 10.1037/pspi0000113
M3 - Article
C2 - 29072471
AN - SCOPUS:85032294883
VL - 114
SP - 286
EP - 302
JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
SN - 0022-3514
IS - 2
ER -