Assumptions in choosing a mate challenged

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (UPI) -- A Scottish study challenges longstanding expectations that men are promiscuous and women tend to be more particular when it comes to choosing a mate. Lead study author Dr. Gillian R. Brown of the School of Psychology at the University of St. Andrews said that in 1948, Angus J. Bateman's famous studies in fruit flies showed that males exhibit greater variance in mating success -- defined as the number of sexual partners -- and in reproductive success -- the number of offspring -- when compared to females. "The conventional view of promiscuous, undiscriminating males and coy, choosy females has also been applied to our own species," Brown said in a statement. To test one of Bateman's assumptions, Brown and colleagues collated data on the variance in male and female reproductive success in 18 human populations. While male reproductive success varied more than female reproductive success overall, huge variability was found between populations. For instance, in monogamous societies, variances in male and female reproductive success were very similar. The study, published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, said recent advances in evolutionary theory suggest that factors such as sex-biased mortality, sex-ratio, population density and variation in mate quality, are likely to impact mating behavior in humans.
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