Resistance to Mate Guarding Scale in Women: Psychometric Properties

Abstract

One individual's actions may affect the evolutionary fitness of another individual. Sexually antagonistic coevolution occurs when one partner's behavior decreases the fitness of the other partner (Rice, 1996). This conflict pressures the other partner to counter these disadvantageous actions. Mate guarding is a mate retention tactic aimed at keeping a partner from cheating. Mate guarding may reduce mate choice, especially for extra pair mates. Therefore, some individuals may resist their partner's mate guarding tactics. We developed a scale to measure resistance to mate guarding and tested it in women (N = 1069). Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), six theoretically sound factors emerged and explained 69% of the variance. Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed strong support for the six original subscales as well as for the overall scale. The subscales had high reliability. The validity of the Resistance to Mate Guarding Scale was also excellent. Women who stated they used more resistance to mate guarding strategies also indicated that they had partners who mate guarded more, were less invested in their relationships, felt their partners were more controlling, had a more avoidant attachment style, and had a more unrestricted sociosexual orientation.

Machiavellianism, perceived quality of alternative mates, and resistance to mate guarding

“…Each participant completed a series of online measures including the Mach IV (Christie & Geis, 1970), Quality of Alternatives Scale (Rusbult, Martz, & Agnew, 1998), and the Resistance to Mate Guarding Scale (Cousins et al, 2015).…”

“…The Resistance to Mate Guarding Scale (Cousins et al, 2015) is a 31-item measure of a woman's resistance to her partner's mate guarding behaviour. Responses are provided on a five point scale (0 = never to 4 = very often).…”

“…Resisting mate guarding may increase the likelihood of relationship conflict or relationship dissolution; the use of resistance should therefore be sensitive to the woman's desire for alternate relationships and her partner's mate retention behaviours. Indeed, resistance to mate guarding is most frequent amongst women who are less invested in their relationships, more interested in shortterm casual relationships, and who intend to engage in infidelity (Cousins, 2003;Cousins et al, 2015).…”

“…Cousins, Fugure, and Riggs (2015) report a range of tactics adopted by women to resist their partner's mate guarding. These include resistance to public displays of affection, avoiding contact with a partner, and resisting a partner's attempts at control.…”

Ain’t misbehavin? Monogamy maintenance strategies in heterosexual romantic relationships

“…However, by contrast, the means by which individuals attempt to maintain their monogamy to their partners, that is, avoid being mate poached themselves, is not well understood. The mate retention research largely does not address the active role of the target partner (i.e., the target of the rival), with a few rare exceptions (Cousins, Fugère, & Riggs, ; Schmitt & Shackelford, ). No investigations to date have examined the role of the target partner in protecting the relationship, and notably none in the form of MM.…”