Love, Sex, and Marriage Through the Ages

Kirkendall, Lester A.; Murstein, Bernard I.

doi:10.2307/582292

Cited by 16 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Whereas the previous reasoning may apply to individuals whether they are parents or not, we also examined a factor that may specifically explain attitudes of parents towards cousin marriages, i.e., the desire of parents to maintain and strengthen the in-group through controlling the mate choice of their offspring. In most cultures and throughout history, parents have exerted a strong influence on the mate choice of their offspring (Buunk, Park, and Duncan, 2010;Murstein, 1974). Apostolou (2007;2010a) showed that in hunting and gathering societies as well as in agricultural and postural societies, parental arrangement was the most frequent type of marriage, especially for females.…”

Section: Parental Control Of Mate Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

A Slow Life History is Related to a Negative Attitude towards Cousin Marriages: A Study in Three Ethnic Groups in Mexico

Buunk

Hoben

2013

Evol Psychol

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Little is known about current attitudes towards cousin marriages. Using data from a rural population in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, the present research examined how life history was related to attitudes towards cousin marriages in various ethnic groups. Participants were 205 parents from three ethnic groups. i.e., Mestizos (people of mixed descent, n = 103), indigenous Mixtecs (n = 65), and Blacks (n = 35). Nearly all men in this study were farm workers or fishermen. Participants reported more negative than positive attitudes towards cousin marriage, and women reported more negative attitudes than did men. The main objection against marrying a cousin was that it is wrong for religious reasons, whereas the risk of genetic defects was considered relatively unimportant. Cousin marriage was not considered to contribute to the quality and unity of marriage and the family. The three ethnic groups did not differ in their attitude towards cousin marriages. However, a slower life history was related to a more negative attitude towards cousin marriages, especially among Blacks, less so among Mixtecs, and not at all among Mestizos. In addition, and independent of the effect of life history, with increasing levels of parental control over mate choice, the attitude towards cousin marriage was more positive, but among men the attitude was more negative the more religious they were. The results are discussed in the context of theorizing on life history theory and the benefits and costs of cousin marriages.

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Section: Parental Control Of Mate Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

A Slow Life History is Related to a Negative Attitude towards Cousin Marriages: A Study in Three Ethnic Groups in Mexico

Buunk

Hoben

2013

Evol Psychol

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“…However, although characteristic of contemporary Western culture, free-choice mating is in fact cross-culturally and historically peculiar. In most cultures and throughout history, parents (and other kin) have exerted strong influence on the mate choice and mating behavior of individuals (e.g., Goode, 1959;Murstein, 1974;Sprecher & Felmlee, 1992;Westermarck, 1921). Arranged marriages have traditionally been-and still are-common in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As noted by Trivers (1974), "Parents may also use an offspring's marriage to cement an alliance with an unrelated family or group, and insofar as such an alliance is beneficial to kin of the parent in addition to the offspring itself, parents are expected to encourage such marriages more often than the offspring would prefer" (p. 261). Indeed, virtually universal criteria that parents tend to impose are that the future spouse should come from the same ethnic group, the same religion, and the same (or higher) social class (Murstein, 1974). For example, one study showed that Hindu women living in the United Kingdom indicated that their parents would never accept a sonin-law from outside of their caste or culture (Bhopal, 1997), and a second-generation Indian American woman revealed her reasons for marrying within her own sociocultural group: "To this day, [my mother] has not forgiven my brothers for marrying [European] Americans" (Das Gupta, 1997, p. 584).…”

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confidence: 99%

Conflicting preferences of parents and offspring over criteria for a mate: A study in Argentina.

Buunk

Solano

2010

Journal of Family Psychology

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Current evolutionary research on human mating has largely ignored the fact that mating decisions may be heavily influenced by parents. Recent research, however, shows that parents and children may have conflicting mate preferences. Specifically, parents tend to have a relatively stronger preference for children to pair with mates with characteristics signaling high parental investment and cooperation with the in-group, whereas children tend to have a relatively stronger preference to pair with mates with characteristics signaling genetic quality. The present research among 242 young adults from Argentina showed that in this country the same parent-offspring conflict was observed as had been found previously in North America, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and Kurdistan. This result provides additional support for the universal character of this type of conflict. In addition, the present research expanded previous work by showing that the two conflict dimensions were indeed psychometrically independent, and that more conflict was reported by older and married participants. In addition, more conflict was reported among women who were more in favor of parental control over mate choice and among men who were higher in social comparison orientation.

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Production, social controls, and ideology: Toward a sociobiology of the phenotype

MacDonald

1983

Journal of Social and Biological Systems

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Love, Sex, and Marriage Through the Ages

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

A Slow Life History is Related to a Negative Attitude towards Cousin Marriages: A Study in Three Ethnic Groups in Mexico

A Slow Life History is Related to a Negative Attitude towards Cousin Marriages: A Study in Three Ethnic Groups in Mexico

Conflicting preferences of parents and offspring over criteria for a mate: A study in Argentina.

Production, social controls, and ideology: Toward a sociobiology of the phenotype

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