scholarly journals Do local sex ratios approximate subjective partner markets? Evidence from the German Family Panel

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Filser ◽  
Richard Preetz
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Event History ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Relationship Formation ◽  
Partner Market ◽  
Market Indicator

A growing body of evidence suggests that imbalanced local sex ratios are correlated with social consequences, including the pattern and timing of union formation, fertility and relationship stability. Scholars have argued that these findings can be understood as a result of imbalances in the bargaining power the respective sex holds in male- or female-skewed regions, but they remain vague on the underlying mechanisms. Specifically, the literature implicitly considers individual partner market experiences to be a function of local sex ratios. However, empirical evidence on the correspondence between subjective partner availability and local sex ratios remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by linking individual-level German longitudinal survey data (pairfam) with local sex ratios from population data for different entities (states, counties, and municipalities). Using multilevel regression models, this paper analyses the correlations between a subjective partner market indicator and a variety of local sex ratio measures. Moreover, an event history analysis explored how either indicator relates transitions into relationships. Results revealed that none of the local sex ratio measures, including those for narrow age ranges and/or lower level administrative entities, significantly predicted whether individuals predominantly met individuals of their own sex. Event history models yielded significant correlations between this subjective partner market indicator and relationship formation for both genders, substantiating the validity of the subjective indicator. For local sex ratios, results revealed an additional association between local sex ratios and female relationship formation when the sex ratios were adjusted for age hypergamy. Male relationship formation was uncorrelated with any local sex ratio. Both evolutionary and social scientific reasoning on the consequences of sex ratio imbalances rest on assumptions of subjective partner availability that may not be adequately represented by local sex ratios. Future research should be careful not to equate local sex ratios and conscious partner market experiences.

scholarly journals Do Local Sex Ratios Approximate Subjective Partner Markets?

Human Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Filser ◽  
Richard Preetz
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relationship Formation ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Adult Sex Ratio ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Partner Market

AbstractSex ratios have widely been recognized as an important link between demographic contexts and behavior because changes in the ratio shift sex-specific bargaining power in the partner market. Implicitly, the literature considers individual partner market experiences to be a function of local sex ratios. However, empirical evidence on the correspondence between subjective partner availability and local sex ratios is lacking so far. In this paper, we analyzed how closely a set of different local sex ratio measures correlates with subjective partner market experiences. Linking a longitudinal German survey to population data for different entities (states, counties, municipalities), we used multilevel logistic regression models to explore associations between singles’ subjective partner market experiences and various operationalizations of local sex ratios. Results suggest that local sex ratios correlated only weakly with subjective partner market experiences. Adult sex ratios based on broad age brackets, including those for lower-level entities, did not significantly predict whether individuals predominantly met individuals of their own sex. More fine-grained, age-specific sex ratios prove to be better predictors of subjective partner market experiences, in particular when age hypergamy patterns were incorporated. Nevertheless, the respective associations were only significant for selected measures. In a complementary analysis, we illustrate the validity of the subjective indicator as a predictor of relationship formation. In sum, our results suggest that subjective partner availability is not adequately represented by the broad adult sex ratio measures that are frequently used in the literature. Future research should be careful not to equate local sex ratios and conscious partner market experiences.

The Behavioral Ecology of Sex Tourism: The Consequences of Skewed Sex Ratios

2020 ◽  
pp. 004728752094610
Author(s):  
Florian Kock
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Behavioral Ecology ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Operational Sex Ratio ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sex Tourism ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Biological Perspective ◽  
Attitudes Toward Sex

The operational sex ratio (i.e., the ratio of reproductive-age females to males in a population) shapes both animal and human behavior in important ways. Drawing on research in evolution and ecology, the author proposes that a local male-skewed sex ratio (i.e., a surplus of males) influences local men’s attitudes toward sex tourism. Analyzing historical field (study 1) and experimental data (study 2), the author demonstrates that male-skewed sex ratios increase men’s sex tourism rationalization and intent, while women’s predispositions are not sensitive to sex ratios. Sex tourism is explained as a subconscious ecological plasticity in response to perceived increased intensities of same-sex competition for mates, signaled by male-skewed sex ratios. The findings demonstrate a link between mating ecologies and sex tourism, with the latter serving as a compensatory behavior of same-sex mating competition. This research contributes a novel, biological perspective on sex tourism with implications for future research and practice.

The Social Consequences of Phubbing

2020 ◽  
pp. 157-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariek Vanden Abeele
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Expectancy Violations ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Comprehensive Literature Review ◽  
The Social

Recent empirical work suggests that phubbing, a term used to describe the practice of snubbing someone with a phone during a face-to-face social interaction, harms the quality of social relationships. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this chapter presents a framework that integrates three concurrent mechanisms that explain the relational impact of phubbing: expectancy violations, ostracism, and attentional conflict. Based on this framework, theoretically grounded propositions are formulated that may serve as guidelines for future research on these mechanisms, the conditions under which they operate, and a number of potential issues that need to be considered to further validate and extend the framework.

scholarly journals Unequal impact of the COVID-19 crisis on minority ethnic groups: a framework for understanding and addressing inequalities

2021 ◽  
pp. jech-2020-216061
Author(s):  
Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi ◽  
Sham Lal ◽  
Enitan D Carrol ◽  
Claire L Niedzwiedz ◽  
Kamlesh Khunti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Minority Ethnic Groups ◽  
Minority Ethnic

Minority ethnic groups have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the exact reasons for this remain unclear, they are likely due to a complex interplay of factors rather than a single cause. Reducing these inequalities requires a greater understanding of the causes. Research to date, however, has been hampered by a lack of theoretical understanding of the meaning of ‘ethnicity’ (or race) and the potential pathways leading to inequalities. In particular, quantitative analyses have often adjusted away the pathways through which inequalities actually arise (ie, mediators for the effect of interest), leading to the effects of social processes, and particularly structural racism, becoming hidden. In this paper, we describe a framework for understanding the pathways that have generated ethnic (and racial) inequalities in COVID-19. We suggest that differences in health outcomes due to the pandemic could arise through six pathways: (1) differential exposure to the virus; (2) differential vulnerability to infection/disease; (3) differential health consequences of the disease; (4) differential social consequences of the disease; (5) differential effectiveness of pandemic control measures and (6) differential adverse consequences of control measures. Current research provides only a partial understanding of some of these pathways. Future research and action will require a clearer understanding of the multiple dimensions of ethnicity and an appreciation of the complex interplay of social and biological pathways through which ethnic inequalities arise. Our framework highlights the gaps in the current evidence and pathways that need further investigation in research that aims to address these inequalities.

scholarly journals Sex-specific deaths in Norway and Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic: Did mandates make a difference?

2021 ◽  
pp. 140349482110100
Author(s):  
Ralph Catalano
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Risky Behavior ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Female Mortality ◽  
All Cause Mortality ◽  
Societal Expectations ◽  
Male To Female

Aims: To determine whether differences between Norway’s and Sweden’s attempts to contain SARS-CoV-2 infection coincided with detectably different changes in their all-cause mortality sex ratios. Measuring temporal variation in the all-cause mortality sex ratio before and during the pandemic in populations exposed to different constraints on risky behavior would allow us to better anticipate changes in the ratio and to better understand its association with infection control strategies. Methods: I apply time Box–Jenkins modeling to 262 months of pre-pandemic mortality sex ratios to arrive at counterfactual values of 10 intra-pandemic ratios. I compare counterfactual to observed values to determine if intra-pandemic ratios differed detectably from those expected as well as whether the Norwegian and Swedish differences varied from each other. Results: The male to female mortality sex ratio in both Norway and Sweden increased during the pandemic. I, however, find no evidence that the increase differed between the two countries despite their different COVID-19 containment strategies. Conclusion: Societal expectations of who will die during the COVID-19 pandemic will likely be wrong if they assume pre-pandemic mortality sex ratios because the intra-pandemic ratios appear, at least in Norway and Sweden, detectably higher. The contribution of differences in policies to reduce risky behavior to those higher ratios appears, however, small.

scholarly journals Feelings of safety during daytime walking: associations with mental health, physical activity and cardiometabolic health in high vacancy, low-income neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber L. Pearson ◽  
Kimberly A. Clevenger ◽  
Teresa H. Horton ◽  
Joseph C. Gardiner ◽  
Ventra Asana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Vigorous Physical Activity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cardiometabolic Health ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Critical Pathway ◽  
Perceived Safety

Abstract Introduction Individuals living in low-income neighborhoods have disproportionately high rates of obesity, Type-2 diabetes, and cardiometabolic conditions. Perceived safety in one’s neighborhood may influence stress and physical activity, with cascading effects on cardiometabolic health. Methods In this study, we examined relationships among feelings of safety while walking during the day and mental health [perceived stress (PSS), depression score], moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (PA), Body Mass Index (BMI), and hemoglobin A1C (A1C) in low-income, high-vacancy neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan. We recruited 69 adults who wore accelerometers for one week and completed a survey on demographics, mental health, and neighborhood perceptions. Anthropometrics were collected and A1C was measured using A1CNow test strips. We compiled spatial data on vacant buildings and lots across the city. We fitted conventional and multilevel regression models to predict each outcome, using perceived safety during daytime walking as the independent variable of interest and individual or both individual and neighborhood-level covariates (e.g., number of vacant lots). Last, we examined trends in neighborhood features according to perceived safety. Results In this predominantly African American sample (91%), 47% felt unsafe during daytime walking. Feelings of perceived safety significantly predicted PSS (β = − 2.34, p = 0.017), depression scores (β = − 4.22, p = 0.006), and BMI (β = − 2.87, p = 0.01), after full adjustment. For PA, we detected a significant association for sex only. For A1C we detected significant associations with blighted lots near the home. Those feeling unsafe lived in neighborhoods with higher park area and number of blighted lots. Conclusion Future research is needed to assess a critical pathway through which neighborhood features, including vacant or poor-quality green spaces, may affect obesity—via stress reduction and concomitant effects on cardiometabolic health.

scholarly journals Sex Ratios in a Warming World: Thermal Effects on Sex-Biased Survival, Sex Determination, and Sex Reversal

2021 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-164
Author(s):  
Suzanne Edmands
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Determination ◽  
Heat Tolerance ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Sex Reversal ◽  
Survival Sex ◽  
Ratio Distortion ◽  
Warming World ◽  
Sex Ratio Distortion

Abstract Rising global temperatures threaten to disrupt population sex ratios, which can in turn cause mate shortages, reduce population growth and adaptive potential, and increase extinction risk, particularly when ratios are male biased. Sex ratio distortion can then have cascading effects across other species and even ecosystems. Our understanding of the problem is limited by how often studies measure temperature effects in both sexes. To address this, the current review surveyed 194 published studies of heat tolerance, finding that the majority did not even mention the sex of the individuals used, with <10% reporting results for males and females separately. Although the data are incomplete, this review assessed phylogenetic patterns of thermally induced sex ratio bias for 3 different mechanisms: sex-biased heat tolerance, temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), and temperature-induced sex reversal. For sex-biased heat tolerance, documented examples span a large taxonomic range including arthropods, chordates, protists, and plants. Here, superior heat tolerance is more common in females than males, but the direction of tolerance appears to be phylogenetically fluid, perhaps due to the large number of contributing factors. For TSD, well-documented examples are limited to reptiles, where high temperature usually favors females, and fishes, where high temperature consistently favors males. For temperature-induced sex reversal, unambiguous cases are again limited to vertebrates, and high temperature usually favors males in fishes and amphibians, with mixed effects in reptiles. There is urgent need for further work on the full taxonomic extent of temperature-induced sex ratio distortion, including joint effects of the multiple contributing mechanisms.

scholarly journals Sex Chromosome Meiotic Drive in Stalk-Eyed Flies

Genetics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 147 (3) ◽  
pp. 1169-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daven C Presgraves ◽  
Emily Severance ◽  
Gerald S Willrinson
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Chromosome ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Meiotic Drive ◽  
Operational Sex Ratio ◽  
Genetic Modifiers ◽  
Ratio Distortion ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sex Ratio Distortion

Meiotically driven sex chromosomes can quickly spread to fixation and cause population extinction unless balanced by selection or suppressed by genetic modifiers. We report results of genetic analyses that demonstrate that extreme female-biased sex ratios in two sister species of stalk-eyed flies, Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni and C. whitei, are due to a meiotic drive element on the X chromosome (Xd). Relatively high frequencies of Xd in C. dalmanni and C. whitei (13–17% and 29%, respectively) cause female-biased sex ratios in natural populations of both species. Sex ratio distortion is associated with spermatid degeneration in male carriers of Xd. Variation in sex ratios is caused by Y-linked and autosomal factors that decrease the intensity of meiotic drive. Y-linked polymorphism for resistance to drive exists in C. dalmanni in which a resistant Y chromosome reduces the intensity and reverses the direction of meiotic drive. When paired with Xd, modifying Y chromosomes (Ym) cause the transmission of predominantly Y-bearing sperm, and on average, production of 63% male progeny. The absence of sex ratio distortion in closely related monomorphic outgroup species suggests that this meiotic drive system may predate the origin of C. whitei and C. dalmanni. We discuss factors likely to be involved in the persistence of these sex-linked polymorphisms and consider the impact of Xd on the operational sex ratio and the intensity of sexual selection in these extremely sexually dimorphic flies.

scholarly journals Fisher vs. The Worms: Extraordinary Sex Ratios in Nematodes and the Mechanisms That Produce Them

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1793
Author(s):  
Justin Van Goor ◽  
Diane C. Shakes ◽  
Eric S. Haag
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Sex Chromosomes ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Environmental Sex Determination ◽  
Fitness Advantage ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Facultative Parthenogenesis ◽  
Multicellular Organisms ◽  
Inbred Populations

Parker, Baker, and Smith provided the first robust theory explaining why anisogamy evolves in parallel in multicellular organisms. Anisogamy sets the stage for the emergence of separate sexes, and for another phenomenon with which Parker is associated: sperm competition. In outcrossing taxa with separate sexes, Fisher proposed that the sex ratio will tend towards unity in large, randomly mating populations due to a fitness advantage that accrues in individuals of the rarer sex. This creates a vast excess of sperm over that required to fertilize all available eggs, and intense competition as a result. However, small, inbred populations can experience selection for skewed sex ratios. This is widely appreciated in haplodiploid organisms, in which females can control the sex ratio behaviorally. In this review, we discuss recent research in nematodes that has characterized the mechanisms underlying highly skewed sex ratios in fully diploid systems. These include self-fertile hermaphroditism and the adaptive elimination of sperm competition factors, facultative parthenogenesis, non-Mendelian meiotic oddities involving the sex chromosomes, and environmental sex determination. By connecting sex ratio evolution and sperm biology in surprising ways, these phenomena link two “seminal” contributions of G. A. Parker. 

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