High parental investment in childhood was associated with increased mate value in adulthood

Antfolk, Jan,and Agneta Sjölund 2018. “Parental Investment and Mate Value”. PsyArXiv. February 10. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2018.02.004

Abstract: Stressors in the childhood environment, such as decreased parental investment (PI) regulates an individual’s reproductive behaviors. The effect of these behaviors on fitness is partly determined by individual mate value (MV). We tested whether PI during childhood is associated to MV in adulthood. Adult men and women (N = 1244) reported received maternal and paternal investment, and also current MV. We found that high PI in childhood was associated with increased MV in adulthood. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between maternal and paternal investment and the association between paternal investment and MV was mediated through maternal investment. We conclude that PI, especially maternal investment, might influence MV in offspring.