Abstract
The value of different mate choices may depend on the local pathogen ecology and on personal infection susceptibility: when there is a high risk of infection, choosing a healthy or immunocompetent mate may be particularly important. Frequency of childhood illness may act as a cue of the ecological and immunological factors relevant to mate preferences. Consistent with this proposal, we found that childhood illness - and frequency of diarrhea in particular - was positively correlated with preferences for exaggerated sex-typical characteristics in opposite-sex, but not same-sex, faces. Moreover, this relationship was stronger among individuals with poorer current health. These data suggest that childhood illness may play a role in calibrating adult mate preferences and have implications for theories of disease-avoidance psychology, life-history strategy and cross-cultural differences in mate preferences.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 384-389 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Evolution and Human Behavior |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2013 |
Keywords
- behavioral immune system
- facial attractiveness
- infectious disease
- predictive adaptive response
- sexual dimorphism