Replicated previous findings that parenting motivation and parenthood predicted social conservatism; the effect, which small, is mediated by both mating orientation and belief in a dangerous world

Politics and Parental Care: Experimental and Mediational Tests of the Causal Link between Parenting Motivation and Social Conservatism. Nicholas T Kerry, Damian R. Murray. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 31st annual meeting. Boston 2019. http://tiny.cc/aa1w6y

Abstract: People vary greatly in their desire to have children, their affective reactions towards children, and their willingness to care for children. This variation in “parenting motivation” predicts a wide range of cognition and behavior. Strategic perspectives on political attitudes suggest that parenting motivation should be associated with more socially conservative attitudes, since these attitudes prioritize norms that emphasize self protection, and discourage short-term sexual behavior. Three studies replicated previous findings that parenting motivation and parenthood predicted social conservatism, and found that parenthood mediated age- and sex-differences in social conservatism. Study 1 (n = 347) found that an experimental child-interaction prime increased social conservatism in parents, but not in non-parents. Studies 2 and 3 (preregistered, n’s=803; 763) found a small main effect of the prime (marginally significant in Study 3). An internal meta-analysis found evidence of a small main effect, and exploratory post-hoc tests revealed that this effect was entirely driven by 25-35 year-olds across the three studies. Study 3 also found that the relationship between parenting motivation and social conservatism was mediated by both mating orientation and belief in a dangerous world. These findings provide support for the idea of a functional relationship between parenthood, parenting motivation, and social conservatism.