Women who believe that desirable mates are hard to come by, tend to be warier of women in general; wariness of women is linked to less reported number of good female friends

Mate Scarcity Effects on Women’s Wariness of Other Women. Jovana Vukovic, Rudy Jean-Bart, Daniela Branson, Jason Zephir, Alexandra Wright. EvoS Journal, Jul 2019. http://evostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Vukovic-et-al_Vol10SpIss1.pdf

Abstract: Previous studies have found that the scarcity of potential mates in the environment may influence mate-choice relevant behaviors, including intrasexual competition. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between the scarcity of Black men and women’s perceptions of other women (i.e., potential competitors). Since Black men are factually scarce in Broward County, we predicted that women who believe that Black men are scarce may hold less favorable opinions of other women (i.e., potential competitors). We interpreted attitudes of wariness toward other women as likely proxies to intrasexual competition. Our results show that women who believe that desirable mates are hard to come by, tend to be warier of women in general. We also found a negative correlation between wariness of women and reported number of good female friends. These results are consistent with previous findings suggesting heightened intrasexual competition when competition for desirable mates is high due to a sex ratio imbalance.

KEYWORDS: Sex Ratio Imbalance, Intrasexual Competition, Female Friendship, Mate Scarcity

Part of the survey:

Rate  the  following  statements  on  a  scale  from  1  (disagree  strongly)  to  10 (agree strongly):
Women are vengeful.
Women are competitive.
Women make good best friends.
I trust other women.
I feel more defensive around women than I do men.
I feel more comfortable around men than I do around women.
I am sometimes jealous of my female friends.
In the past, I have gossiped about a female friend who was flirting with the person I liked in a romantic way.
In the past, I started a rumor to get back at a friend who flirted with the person I liked in a romantic way.