Changes in age-at-marriage laws rarely achieve the desired outcome; for this change to be effective, better laws must be accompanied by better enforcement & monitoring to delay marriage & protect the rights of women & girls

Trends in child marriage and new evidence on the selective impact of changes in age-at-marriage laws on early marriage. Ewa Batyra, Luca Maria Pesando. SSM - Population Health, May 4 2021, 100811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100811

Highlights

• Changes in age-at-marriage laws have only a limited impact on delaying marriage age.

• In Benin, Mauritania, Kazakhstan and Bhutan, laws did not curb early marriage.

• In Tajikistan and Nepal results depends on model specification.

• Better enforcement must accompany the implementation of the age-at-marriage laws.

Abstract: This study adopts a cohort perspective to explore trends in child marriage – defined as the proportion of girls who entered first union before the age of 18 – and the effectiveness of policy changes aimed at curbing child marriage by increasing the minimum legal age of marriage. We adopt a cross-national perspective comparing six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that introduced changes in the minimum age at marriage over the past two decades. These countries belong to three broad regions: Sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Mauritania), Central Asia (Tajikistan, Kazakhstan), and South Asia (Nepal, Bhutan). We combine individual-level data from Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys with longitudinal information on policy changes from the PROSPERED (Policy-Relevant Observational Studies for Population Health Equity and Responsible Development) project. We adopt data visualization techniques and a regression discontinuity design to obtain causal estimates of the effect of changes in age-at-marriage laws on early marriage. Our results suggest that changes in minimum-age-at-marriage laws were not effective in curbing early marriage in Benin, Mauritania, Kazakhstan, and Bhutan, where child marriage did not show evidence of decline across cohorts. Significant reductions in early marriage following law implementations were observed in Tajikistan and Nepal, yet their effectiveness depended on the specification and threshold adopted, thus making them hardly effective as policies to shape girls' later life trajectories. Our findings align with existing evidence from other countries suggesting that changes in age-at-marriage laws rarely achieve the desired outcome. In order for changes in laws to be effective, better laws must be accompanied by better enforcement and monitoring to delay marriage and protect the rights of women and girls. Alternative policies need to be devised to ensure that girls’ later-life outcomes, including their participation in higher education and society, are ensured, encouraged, and protected.

Keywords: Early marriageLawsPolicy changesAge at marriageWomen's statusLMICs

Conclusions and discussion

This study has adopted a cohort perspective to explore the extent to which changes in age-at-marriage laws were effective in curbing early marriage across six LMICS which introduced a policy change regarding the minimum age at marriage. We tackled our research question using survey data from countries located in different regions of the world combined with novel longitudinal information on policy changes. We adopted simple causal inference techniques to obtain estimates of the causal effect of changes in age-at-marriage laws on early marriage, in line with the existing literature on the topic relying primarily on difference-in-differences strategies or regression discontinuity designs (Bellés-Obrero & Lombardi, 2020; Collin & Talbot, 2018; Dahl, 2010; McGavock, 2021). In so doing, we reached two different sets of findings. The first set of results suggests that only in Tajikistan and Nepal there have been noticeable declines in child marriage across cohorts. Despite these declines observed in more recent cohorts, the majority of the countries under investigation – particularly Nepal, Bhutan, Mauritania, and Benin – are far from eradicating early marriage, as even among the youngest cohorts around one third of women marries before the age of 18.

Echoing much of the literature (Collin & Talbot, 2018; Kalamar et al., 2016; Koski et al., 2017), the second set of findings suggests that even in these previously unexplored countries, changes in minimum-age-at-marriage laws were not effective in curbing early marriage in Benin, Mauritania, Kazakhstan, and Bhutan, where child marriage showed little evidence of decline across cohorts to start with. Significant reductions in early marriage following law implementations were instead observed in Tajikistan and Nepal – showing, respectively, a decreasing trend overtime after the 1975–79 and 1980–84 cohorts – yet their effectiveness depends on the specification and threshold (window) adopted, thus making them hardly effective as policies to shape girls’ later life trajectories. As the literature tends to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Bangladesh, and Mexico, we believe our results for Nepal and Tajikistan are informative and stress an additional layer of novelty even just from a purely “geographical” standpoint.

Our findings relating to the mixed and context-specific effectiveness of policy changes aimed at curbing early marriage aligns with claims made by Arthur et al. (2018) and Collin and Talbot (2018) that, despite the increasing prevalence of legal provisions aimed at increasing the legal age at marriage, the level of enforcement varies widely, and legal exceptions based on parental consent and customary or religious laws remain in place – alongside high rates of illegal or informal marriages (Bellés-Obrero & Lombardi, 2020; Collin & Talbot, 2018) – thus preventing the full effectiveness of the legal provisions. Unfortunately, we did not have data on exact implementation procedures, monitoring, or enforcement, which could also cast light on why reductions in child marriage in Nepal and Tajikistan were more pronounced than in other countries. Nonetheless, several sources suggest that these are serious issues that underlie the very limited effectiveness of changes in legal provisions in countries covered by our analyses overall. In Bhutan, although child marriage is punishable by fine, enforcement is considered to be weak and is exacerbated by lack of reliable marriage registration system (ICRW, 2012). In Nepal, child marriage can carry a prison sentence and/or a fine, but punishment is weakened by wide discretionary sentencing powers given to courts (CRR, 2016). Overall, poor implementation and limited awareness of child marriage legislation are considered to be one of the reasons for the high prevalence of child marriage in South Asia, including Bhutan and Nepal (Khanna et al., 2013). In Tajikistan, child marriages carry a prison sentence of up to six months but, in practice, most cases are only punished by a fine. Moreover, religious ceremonies are sometimes performed without registration of marriages to civil authorities, thus bypassing legislation (UNFPA, 2014). Similar issues around the implementation of laws as in Tajikistan have been identified in Kazakhstan (UNFPA, 2012). We found little information about the working of legislation in Sub-Saharan African countries covered by our study, most notably Benin. Nonetheless, available sources suggest that, in Mauritania, the lack of clarity of the Personal Status Code that sets the minimum age at marriage renders it ineffective in having any meaningful impact on marriage practices.3 Albeit scarce, the available evidence consistently points to weak enforcement of the new legislation across countries included in our study.

Our results combined suggest that there is a long way to go before child marriage is eradicated, and changes in legal provisions are playing only a minimal role, if any. This pushes scholars and policymakers to think about alternative policies that might be more effective in curbing early marriage or delaying age at first union. For instance, Kalamar et al. (2016) found that providing incentives for girls’ education was one of the few interventions that have been shown to effectively prevent child marriage. Many of the studies included in that review were conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa. Randomized evaluations in Kenya, Malawi, and Zimbabwe also found that reducing the cost of schooling by providing school fees, uniforms, or cash transfers conditional on attendance reduced the incidence of child marriage (Baird et al, 2010, 2012; Hallfors et al., 2015). A pilot program in Ethiopia that provided girls with mentorship and economic incentives to remain in school – and facilitated community discussion about the harms associated with child marriage – reduced the proportion of girls between ages 10 and 14 who were married by approximately 8 percentage points after a two-year follow-up period, although the program had no measurable effect on the marriage of girls between ages 15 and 19 (Erulkar & Muthengi, 2009).

Preventing early, coerced, and forced marriage has been on the global agenda for several decades, first in 2000 with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) highlighting the reduction of child marriage as a global priority, and then in 2015 as part of the global agenda with the establishment of the SDGs. We have here argued that SDG Goal 5 – focusing on gender equality to empower all women and girls – is linked with progress on the elimination of early marriage, yet it is also inextricably linked with SDG Goal 4, related to better access and more gender-equal participation in education, Goal 3 (good health and wellbeing), Goal 8 (decent work and economic growth) and, ultimately, Goal 1 (no poverty). Significant progress is nowhere close, yet a clear implication ensuing from this study is that better enforcement and monitoring of legal provisions concerning the minimum age at marriage – if effective – would have the potential to raise women's status by simultaneously enabling the achievement of multiple goals. We thus posit two clear implications of this research for policy and speculate on a third point. First, the laudable goal of legislation curbing or banning early marriage must be accompanied by capacity-building and resourcing for more legal enforcement. Second, monitoring the efficacy of deterrence, including through exploiting cheap and plentiful micro-level data as we do here, is essential to test and improve the link from laws to ages at marriage, the outcome targeted by policy and the one that matters most for women and girls' later-life outcomes. Third, we speculate on the possibility that national marriage policies might have a more meaningful impact if part of a comprehensive, multi-pronged, and context-sensitive approach targeting poverty and rooted social norms in all their forms – such as some of the complementary interventions (including educational interventions) mentioned above.

What Drives the Dehumanization of Consensual Non-Monogamous Partners? Being perceived as less moral and less committed to their relationship

What Drives the Dehumanization of Consensual Non-Monogamous Partners? David L. Rodrigues, Diniz Lopes & Aleksandra Huic. Archives of Sexual Behavior, May 4 2021. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-020-01895-5

Abstract: We built upon a recent study by Rodrigues, Fasoli, Huic, and Lopes (2018) by investigating potential mechanisms driving the dehumanization of consensual non-monogamous (CNM) partners. Using a between-subjects experimental design, we asked 202 Portuguese individuals (158 women; Mage = 29.17, SD = 9.97) to read the description of two partners in a monogamous, open, or polyamorous relationship, and to make a series of judgments about both partners. Results showed the expected dehumanization effect, such that both groups of CNM partners (open and polyamorous) were attributed more primary (vs. secondary) emotions, whereas the reverse was true for monogamous partners. Moreover, results showed that the dehumanization effect was driven by the perception of CNM partners as less moral and less committed to their relationship. However, these findings were observed only for individuals with unfavorable (vs. favorable) attitudes toward CNM relationship. Overall, this study replicated the original findings and extended our understanding of why people in CNM relationships are stigmatized.

Atheists were perceived as more desirable in short-term mating than long-term mating (preference that did not translate to being preferred in that context over theists); this effect is specific to physically attractive targets

Brown, Mitch. 2021. “Preliminary Evidence for Aversion to Atheists in Long-term Mating Domains.” PsyArXiv. May 2. doi:10.31234/osf.io/gu7xy

Abstract: The centrality of religiosity in selecting long-term mates suggests the espousal of atheism could be undesirable for that context. Given recent findings suggesting the presence of several positive stereotypes about atheists, a largely distrusted group, it could be possible individuals prefer atheists in mating domains not emphasizing long-term commitment (i.e., short-term mating). I conducted two studies tasking participants with evaluating long-term and short-term mating desirability of theists and atheists while assessing perceptions of their personalities. Study 1 indicated atheists were perceived as more desirable in short-term mating than long-term mating, though this preference did not translate to being preferred in that context over theists. Study 2 demonstrated this effect is specific to physically attractive targets. I further found atheists were perceived as more prone to infidelity, especially if they were attractive. I frame results from an evolutionary perspective while discussing the pervasiveness of anti-atheist prejudice.

Work from Home, IT Professionals: Total hours worked increased by roughly 30%, including a rise of 18% in working after normal business hours; average output did not significantly change, so productivity fell by about 20%

Work from Home & Productivity: Evidence from Personnel & Analytics Data on IT Professionals. Michael Gibbs, Friederike Mengel, Christoph Siemroth. Becker Friedman Institute, Working Paper 2021-56, May 6 2021. https://bfi.uchicago.edu/working-paper/2021-56

Using personnel and analytics data from over 10,000 skilled professionals at a large Asian IT services company, we compare productivity before and during the work from home [WFH] period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Total hours worked increased by roughly 30%, including a rise of 18% in working after normal business hours. Average output did not significantly change. Therefore, productivity fell by about 20%. Time spent on coordination activities and meetings increased, but uninterrupted work hours shrank considerably. Employees also spent less time networking, and received less coaching and 1:1 meetings with supervisors. These findings suggest that communication and coordination costs increased substantially during WFH, and constituted an important source of the decline in productivity. Employees with children living at home increased hours worked more than those without children at home, and suffered a bigger decline in productivity than those without children.

What is your earliest memory? It depends.

What is your earliest memory? It depends. Carole Peterson. Memory, May 6 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2021.1918174

Abstract: This article is a selective review of the literature on childhood amnesia, followed by new analyses of both published and unpublished data that has been collected in my laboratory over two decades. Analyses point to the fluidity of people’s earliest memories; furthermore, methodological variation leads to individuals recalling memories from substantially earlier in their lives. How early one’s “earliest” memory is depends on whether you have multiple interviews, how many early memories were requested within an interview, the type of interview, participation in prior tasks, etc. As well, people often provide chronologically earlier memories within the same interview in which they later identify a chronologically older memory as their “earliest”. There may also be systematic mis-dating to older ages of very early memories. Overall, people may have a lot more memories from their preschool years than is widely believed, and be able to recall events from earlier in their lives than has been historically documented.

KEYWORDS: Childhood amnesiainfantile amnesiaearly memoriesfirst memoriesautobiographical memory

Discussion

It is clear that very young children indeed form memories, and many of these can be verbally described (see Bauer et al., 2019, for an overview of types of relevant evidence). The question of “when do personal memories start” has been an often-asked question in the childhood amnesia literature, and answers to this question have influenced theory construction about early memory. However, recent research has shown that access to early memories is often shaped by a range of both cognitive and social factors that interact (see Wang & Gülgöz, 2019, for a number of articles that address this in a special issue on childhood memory, as well as the edited volume by Gülgöz & Sahin-Acar, 2020, on autobiographical memory development).

Theoretical implications

In the current article, I have reviewed relevant literature on childhood amnesia and then re-examined data collected from a range of research studies that has been conducted in my laboratory over a number of years as well as included new data that have not been previously published. These analyses have several theoretical implications.

First, an answer to the question of when one’s earliest memory occurs is a moving target rather than being a single static memory. Thus, what many people provide when asked for their earliest memory is not a boundary or watershed beginning, before which there are no memories. Rather, there seems to be a pool of potential memories from which both adults and children sample. Table 1 demonstrates considerable movement in the identification of their earliest memory, even though the memory they had described in an earlier interview was not forgotten. Moreover, almost half the time they retrieved a new and yet-earlier “first” memory when interviewed 2 years later. Some prior reports have emphasised the important role of forgetting (Cleveland & Reese, 2008; Van Abbema & Bauer, 2005), but Table 1 suggests that although forgetting is occurring and cannot be theoretically “forgotten”, as Bauer (2015) reminds us, it is but a partial explanation for changes in what is identified as the “earliest memory”.

Secondly, what is provided as a so-called “earliest memory” is highly malleable. Prior research has shown that it can be experimentally manipulated (Kingo et al., 2013b; Peterson et al., 2009b; Wessel et al., 2019). However, as Table 2 shows, one does not need external prompts; simply recalling one memory seems to internally cue others from that early period of life, and many of these later-mentioned memories are chronologically much earlier, on average a full year and a half earlier in our data. This self-cueing is also demonstrated in Table 3 when one compares the date of individuals’ identified earliest memory and their chronologically earliest memory (i.e., comparing the top panel to the bottom panel). Thus, providing an early memory often results in self-cueing to additional and yet-earlier memories. This mechanism of self-cueing is likely also responsible for participants who had a prior Memory Fluency Task subsequently providing earlier memories in the Earliest Memory Task (compare the left and right panels in Table 3).

Thirdly, when recalling multiple memories from the same life period, people do not seem to situate them on a continuous timeline as the memories are recalled. Prior research has suggested that the memories themselves and dating of those memories are independent; Table 4 suggests that memory dates are also independent of each other. How else can one explain the phenomenon of people providing memories from specific dates and a few minutes later identifying different and later-dated memories as their very first one? A mental timeline of memories does not seem to be constructed during recollection.

Limitations

In all of the analyses presented above, participants were providing their own dating of their very early memories. Yet people are notoriously poor at memory dating, as a host of other research studies have shown. The telescoping errors described above are only one example of dating error, and few other studies focus on the accuracy of the dating for people’s very early memories. What is needed in childhood amnesia research are independently confirmed or documented external dates against which personally derived dates can be compared. These are not found in the research cited above on telescoping errors since parental dating was used there for comparison with child dates, and parents too are likely to make dating errors. Such research using verified dating is currently ongoing, both in my laboratory and elsewhere.

Secondly, there are statistical limitations to the analyses presented above. Most of the analyses are post-hoc rather than pre-planned, and as such, are tentative. They can be seen as patterns that require further targeted research, and suggest avenues for additional exploration.

Structural, Functional, & Metabolic Brain Differences as a Function of Identity or Orientation: It is possible that more differences too subtle to measure with available tools yet contributing to identity & orientation could be found

Structural, Functional, and Metabolic Brain Differences as a Function of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation: A Systematic Review of the Human Neuroimaging Literature. Alberto Frigerio, Lucia Ballerini & Maria Valdés Hernández. Archives of Sexual Behavior, May 6 2021. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02005-9

Abstract: This review systematically explored structural, functional, and metabolic features of the cisgender brain compared with the transgender brain before hormonal treatment and the heterosexual brain compared to the homosexual brain from the analysis of the neuroimaging literature up to 2018, and identified and discussed subsequent studies published up to March 2021. Our main aim was to help identifying neuroradiological brain features that have been related to human sexuality to contribute to the understanding of the biological elements involved in gender identity and sexual orientation. We analyzed 39 studies on gender identity and 24 on sexual orientation. Our results suggest that some neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and neurometabolic features in transgender individuals resemble those of their experienced gender despite the majority resembling those from their natal sex. In homosexual individuals the majority resemble those of their same-sex heterosexual population rather than their opposite-sex heterosexual population. However, it is always difficult to interpret findings with noninvasive neuroimaging. Given the gross nature of these measures, it is possible that more differences too subtle to measure with available tools yet contributing to gender identity and sexual orientation could be found. Conflicting results contributed to the difficulty of identifying specific brain features which consistently differ between cisgender and transgender or between heterosexual and homosexual groups. The small number of studies, the small-to-moderate sample size of each study, and the heterogeneity of the investigations made it impossible to meta-analyze all the data extracted. Further studies are necessary to increase the understanding of the neurological substrates of human sexuality.

Discussion

Main Findings

The results from our systematic review and meta-analyses do not allow us to conclude on the specific brain phenotypes differential for each of the groups covered by this review. Although functional MRI studies (i.e., involving either fMRI or rs-MRI) on gender identity seem to indicate that fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular brain regions are differentially relevant in transgenderism, a clear pattern accompanied by consistent structural changes is still to be found. Studies on gender identity with moderate-to-larger samples which included individuals with different sexual orientation in their control groups (Baldinger-Melich et al., 2020; Manzouri & Savic, 2019), exposed the complexities underlying both gender identity and sexual orientation. The data extracted may suggest that before hormonal treatment the majority of transgenders’ brain features covered by the studies reviewed could be similar to those of their natal sex, but certainly some brain parameters differ resembling those of their experienced gender. Also, although homosexual’s neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neurometabolism may tend to resemble those of heterosexual individuals of their same sex, some brain features differ and are similar to those of heterosexual individuals of the opposite sex in some of the studies analyzed.

The compilation of the data from the studies included shows neural differences between the groups studied. However, brain functions are mediated by different brain areas and their interactions, rather than by single structures. The correlation or association between a certain brain function, volumetric change or activation, with a certain activity and/or behavior does not establish whether (or not) that structure/function is causally important for that activity/behavior (Koob et al., 2013; Maney, 2016). It merely shows a possible involvement or apparent trend. Complex human behaviors (and few simple behaviors) cannot be entirely explained by phenomena occurring only in a single brain region. Therefore, the idea that brain sexual differences cause behavioral sexual differences, rather than being an assumption, still constitutes a hypothesis to verify.

Studies on cisgender and heterosexual samples have reported sex differences in brain anatomy on a global scale, regarding absolute volumes (Kurth et al., 2016). Studies have also reported sexual dimorphism in the relative sizes and shapes of regional brain structures, with the direction of the sex effect varying between regions, including the Broca’s region (Kurth et al., 2016), corpus callosum (Prendergast et al., 2015), amygdala and hippocampus (Giedd et al., 1996). These findings reflect on the selectivity of the brain regions analyzed by the studies included in this review. However, research investigating differences at the level of regional tissue volumes is highly contradictory. A large study that analyzed MRI data of 1400 cisgender heterosexual individuals from four different datasets (Joel et al., 2015) found substantial overlap in the distribution of anatomical traits between males and females in all brain regions and connections examined, undermining attempts to clearly distinguish between “male” and “female” forms of specific brain features. They arrived at the idea that human brains cannot in fact, be distinctly categorized into two distinct classes but rather, that male and female brains are comprised of “unique mosaics” of features, some of which are more common in one sex than the other and some that are common in both.

Some authors refer to an early programming of gender and sexual inclination driven by sexual differentiation in the brain, proposing that the latter influences the development of the brain areas modulating body perception (i.e., related to gender identity) or sexual arousal (i.e., related to sexual orientation) (Burke et al., 2017; Manzouri & Savic, 2019). Others underline the interaction between brain, culture and behavior, arguing that structural and functional brain changes in transgender individuals may be consequence of culture and behavior (Mohammadi & Khalegi, 2018). The etiology and drivers of differences in gender identity and sexual orientation is out of the scope of this review, and caution must be exercised to drive conclusions from the neuroscience literature alone, as human behavior, ultimately, is not reducible to biological nor to cultural factors, but is a consequence of their interaction. As such, human sexuality is a multilevel complex, and the challenge is to investigate how biological, historical and cultural elements interact with each other.

Regions of Interest Analysis

The lack of data did not allow us to meta-analyze the information obtained from the studies that conducted ROI analyses. From extracting and summarizing all the information available, differences were found between cisgender and transgender people in white matter microstructure, volumetric analyses, cortical thickness, and corpus callosum shape. Differences between heterosexual and homosexual people were found in cortical thickness, subcortical volumes, and cerebral hemisphere, but not in white matter tracts. The studies included, in the rest of the ROIs analyzed, either did not find significant differences between cisgender and transgender brains nor between heterosexual and homosexual; or found significant differences just between transgenders and opposite sex cisgenders, and between homosexuals and opposite sex heterosexuals (see Tables 3 and 4). Our findings on gender identity are consistent with previous studies that also attempted to summarize the literature findings on this topic, according to which gross morphology in transgenders is more similar to cisgender people of their natal sex than to cisgender people of their experienced gender (Guillamon et al., 2016; Kreukels & Guillamon, 2016; Mueller et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2015), even though white matter microstructure (Kreukels & Guillamon, 2016; Mueller et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2015), cortical thickness (Guillamon et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2015), and subcortical volumes (Mueller et al., 2017) may deviate from the biological sex towards values of experienced gender.

Stereotaxic Coordinates Analysis

Occipital brain regions, involved in visual processing, are the ones that most frequently were found to have a different activation in cisgenders compared to transgenders, followed by some fronto-temporal foci. This is not surprising given that, in general, most fMRI studies involved in both analyses involved visual stimulation. In addition, specifically the BA 23 had different activations for heterosexuals with respect to homosexuals. Our meta-analysis found different brain activations between different groups scattered across the whole brain, but overall with low frequency (see Tables 5 and 6). Our results on gender identity are consistent with some of the previous studies mentioned above, according to which in certain brain areas transgenders’ activation is closer to those of their experienced gender (Guillamon et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2015). While there is still concensus that a clear picture has yet to emerge (Mueller et al., 2017), recent advances in artificial intelligence confirm the observations above, by indicating that some fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular areas may be of relevance for predicting hormonal therapy outcomes (Moody et al., 2021).

Metabolic Analysis

In transgenders and homosexuals, some metabolic features seem to differ slightly from cisgenders of their natal sex and from heterosexuals of their natal sex respectively. However, given the reduced number of studies included that conducted these analyses, these findings cannot be generalized. This is in line with what the scientific literature on gender identity up to date has concluded in this respect (Smith et al., 2015).

Strengths and Limitations

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review and meta-analysis of the neuroimaging literature on structural, functional, and metabolic differences as a function of both gender identity (before the hormonal treatment) and sexual orientation. In addition, we carefully extracted and processed all data from all studies considered for meta-analyses and made them publicly available to facilitate further research in this important area.

Several limitations regarding the small sample size of the meta-analysis and the heterogeneity of the investigations must be acknowledged. The analyses of our systematic search up to 2018 included 51 studies (i.e., 30 on gender identity and 21 on sexual orientation) all with relatively small samples, conducted with different neuroimaging techniques (1 SPECT, 3 PET, 6 fMRI, 8 rs-fMRI, and 13 MRI on gender identity; 4 PET, 5 MRI, 3 rs-fMRI, and 11 fMRI on sexual orientation). Different studies conducted with MRI investigated different brain structures (cortex, subcortical volumes, white matter, CSF, and ventricles in gender identity; cortex, subcortical volumes, and white matter in sexual orientation). fMRI was conducted under different stimulations (1 smelling, 1 vocal stimulation, 1 mental rotation task, 1 verbal fluency test, and 2 visual in gender identity; 10 visual stimulation and 1 emotional judgment task in sexual orientation). Metabolic analysis investigated different brain areas (hypothalamic network, serotonin transport distribution in different ROI, and rCBF in gender identity studies; hypothalamic activation and functional connectivity in sexual orientation studies) using different neuroimaging techniques (PET and SPECT in gender identity research; PET in sexual orientation research). As a result, it was not possible to meta-analyze the results from all studies that fit our inclusion/exclusion criteria, and the main contribution of our work, therefore, is limited to the scientific compilation and synthesis of the data available. An update on the primary search conducted in one database, added 12 papers to the analyses which, although enriched the data presented, was rather confirmatory of our main findings and added heterogeneity to the results.

Moreover, some studies had some limitations regarding the presentation of their data. First, some studies did not report statistical parameters and just reported whether or not there were significant differences between cisgenders and transgenders and between heterosexuals and homosexuals. Second, other studies reported statistical parameters only in case of significant differences between groups, and omitted reporting negative results (i.e., when no differences were found) (gender identity investigation: Burke et al., 2014; Kranz et al., 2014b, 2015; Ku et al., 2013; Lin et al., 2014; Luders et al., 2009; Nota et al., 2017; Pol et al., 2006; Santarnecchi et al., 2012; Soleman et al., 2013; Spies et al., 2016; Yokota et al., 2005; Zubiaurre-Elorza et al., 2013; sexual orientation investigation: Hu et al., 2008; Ponseti et al., 2007; Savic and Lindström, 2008; Sylva, 2013; Zeki & Romaya, 2010; for more detailed information, please see analysis of bias in Appendix 5 and 6). A complete presentation of scientific data, including negative results, is important to precisely evaluate scientific investigations on a certain topic (Matosin et al., 2014).

Information on the biological sex of the studies’ participants is part of the scientific data we collected and made available. The data presented show MtF and FtM transgender individuals do not have mirror images of brain differences. However, the heterogeneity of the design of the studies involved, despite enriching the scope of this review, due to the limited number of studies included and their sample sizes, made it impossible to draw conclusions on specific biological sex differences for the groups covered in this review. For example, some papers compared MtF with MC, others MtF with FC, others FtM with MC, and others FtM with FC. The studies included in this review on transgenderism did not provide information on early-onset or late-onset transgenderism. Therefore, analysis and information of this important point is lacking.

Finally, as Guillamon et al. (2016) noted, some studies conducted on gender identity did not report the sexual orientation of the individuals that constituted their sample. Gender identity and sexual orientation are conceptually different, i.e., both cisgender and transgender people are either heterosexual or homosexual (Burke et al., 2017; Moser, 2010), and there are more gender identities other than cis-/transgender(ism) (such as genderqueer or non-binary) and other sexual orientations other than hetero-/homosexual(ism) (such as bi-, pan-, and asexual). Sexual orientation could be associated with brain structural specific features regardless and independently from gender identity as some recent studies suggest (Baldinger-Melich et al., 2020; Manzouri & Savic, 2019). Thus, meaning that the structural, functional, and metabolic variations found in homosexual transgenders with respect to heterosexual cisgenders may be related to their sexual orientation rather than to their gender identity (Blanchard et al., 1987). A recent study identified brain regions where both sexual orientation and gender identity seemingly interact (Wang, Han, et al., 2020).

The self-reported quality of the father-son relationship did not predict hegemonic masculinity; adverse childhood experiences, mother-son relationship quality, & family support also failed to predict hegemonic masculinity

Daddy issues: Friends rather than fathers influence adult men's hegemonic masculinity. George Van Doorn, Jacob Dye, Ma Regina de Gracia. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 171, March 2021, 110467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110467

Abstract: Hegemonic masculinity often refers to negative and socially aversive traits and behaviours associated with idealised masculine norms. Extant literature suggests that several social determinants might influence men's conformity to negative and socially-averse masculine norms, but studies are limited. The present study examined whether the quality of the father-son relationship in childhood impacts hegemonic masculinity in adulthood. In addition, we also determined whether adverse childhood experiences, mother-son relationship quality, as well as familial and peer support explained any additional variance in hegemonic masculinity after controlling for the quality of a man's relationship with his father. A sample of 188 men (aged 18 to 62 years) completed an online survey that included the K-Short Form-42, the Adverse Childhood Experiences scale, and the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-29. Results from a hierarchical regression analysis showed that the self-reported quality of the father-son relationship did not predict hegemonic masculinity. Adverse childhood experiences, mother-son relationship quality, and family support also failed to predict hegemonic masculinity. However, a decrease in support from friends was associated with an increase in hegemonic masculinity, even after controlling for all other variables. The importance of peer relationships in developing and maintaining a man's adherence to traditional masculine norms is underscored.

Austria, England, Ireland and Sweden: Voters from all sides are more satisfied if there are more parties to choose from; the positive effect is stronger among the higher educated

Do voters prefer more parties on the ballot? John Högström, André Blais & Carolina Plescia. Acta Politica, May 6 2021. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41269-021-00203-w

Abstract: Citizens’ evaluation of how well the system works is central to the legitimacy of a democratic system. Elections and voting are crucial parts of the democratic system, and therefore, it is very important to evaluate voter satisfaction with the electoral process. In this study, we evaluate one aspect of the electoral process: the supply of parties on the ballot paper, and we use a direct measure of satisfaction with the party choices available on the ballot. We performed a survey experiment with a representative sample of citizens in four Western European democracies: Austria, England, Ireland and Sweden. The results point to a clear answer: voters are more satisfied if there are more parties to choose from. The findings also show that the positive effect is stronger among the higher educated. We also examined if it is the presence of an ideologically close option that really matters. The results show that respondents in every ideological position prefer more parties. This strongly suggests that it is the number of parties, as such that matters.

 

Beauty perceptions causally influenced moral standing attributions across a wide range of animal species independently from perceived patiency, agency, and harmfulness

Beauty of the Beast: Beauty as an important dimension in the moral standing of animals. Christoph Klebl et al. Journal of Environmental Psychology, May 7 2021, 101624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101624

Highlights

• Beauty perceptions predicted moral standing attributions across a wide range of animal species independently from perceived patiency, agency, and harmfulness.

• Beauty causally influenced moral standing attributions to animals independently from other factors likely to influence moral standing.

• The findings may help conservationists to identify the most effective ways to attract funds for the conservation of endangered species.

Abstract: Conservationists have sought to identify avenues through which to gain public support for efforts to halt the accelerating decline in animal diversity. Previous research has identified perceived internal qualities of animals that lead people to view them as deserving of protection for their own sake; that is, increase their moral standing. In two studies, we found that perceived beauty is an external aesthetic quality that leads people to attribute moral standing to animals independently from animals’ perceived mental capacities associated with patiency or agency, and dispositional harmfulness, as well as other factors likely to influence moral standing. In Study 1, we found that beauty perceptions predicted moral standing across a wide range of animal species from 12 biological categories independently from perceived patiency, agency, and harmfulness. In Study 2 (pre-registered), we found that beauty causally influenced moral standing attributions to animals independently from animals’ perceived internal qualities, as well as their perceived similarity to humans, familiarity, and edibility. Our findings provide insight into another factor which contributes to the perceived moral status of animals, and therefore may help conservationists to identify the most effective ways to attract funds for conservation efforts.

Keywords: beautyattractivenessmoral standinganimal conservation

Greater likelihood of substance use when a worker receives performance pay: Result supports conjectures that stress & effort increase with performance pay & that alcohol & drug use is a coping mechanism for workers

From 2020... Does performance pay increase alcohol and drug use? Benjamin Artz, Colin P. Green & John S. Heywood. Journal of Population Economics volume 34, pages969–1002. Jun 2020. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-020-00776-4

Abstract: Using US panel data on young workers, we demonstrate that those who receive performance pay are more likely to consume alcohol and illicit drugs. Recognizing that this likely reflects worker sorting, we first control for risk, ability, and personality proxies. We further mitigate sorting concerns by introducing worker fixed effects, worker-employer match fixed effects, and worker-employer-occupation match fixed effects. Finally, we present fixed effect IV estimates. All of these estimates continue to indicate a greater likelihood of substance use when a worker receives performance pay. The results support conjectures that stress and effort increase with performance pay and that alcohol and drug use is a coping mechanism for workers.

We not only favor our genes (altruism for those with similar genetics), greater memetic similarity (similarity in important attitudes & values) was associated with greater altruism

Baucal, Aleksandar, and Aleksandra Lazić. 2021. “Selfish Genes or Selfish Memes?.” PsyArXiv. May 5. doi:10.31234/osf.io/c4j92

Abstract: When “selfish genes” and “selfish memes” compete, who would one rather help – an ideologically similar acquaintance or a relative with a different worldview? Two preregistered experiments disentangled the effects of selfish genes and selfish memes (operationalized as similarity in important attitudes and values) on participants’ self-reported willingness to help in hypothetical everyday-favor and life-or-death situations. In Study 1 (N = 364), altruism was highest for siblings, and the same for cousins and nonkin; greater memetic similarity was associated with greater altruism, and the interaction term was not significant. Study 2 (N = 252) replicated this during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting the effects are not altered in life-threatening situations. Studies suggest that meme selfishness shapes altruism independently of gene selfishness. This becomes especially important in times of rising social polarization.

Violating the male breadwinning norm results in a 35 per cent increase in the likelihood of partner violence and a 20 per cent increase in emotional abuse against women

Gender norms and domestic abuse: Evidence from Australia. Zhang, Y; Breunig, R. Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Working paper 5/2021. May 2021. https://taxpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/publication/ttpi-working-papers/18650/gender-norms-and-domestic-abuse-evidence-australia

Abstract: Australia conforms to the gender norm that women should earn less than their male partners. We investigate the impact of violating this cultural norm on the incidence of domestic violence and emotional abuse against women and men in Australia. Violating the male breadwinning norm results in a 35 per cent increase in the likelihood of partner violence and a 20 per cent increase in emotional abuse against women. We find no effect on abuse against men. The strong effect of violating the gender norm on abuse against women is present across age ranges, income groups and cultural and educational backgrounds.

Damselflies: Latitudinal clines in sexual selection, sexual size dimorphism and sex-specific genetic dispersal during a poleward range expansion

Latitudinal clines in sexual selection, sexual size dimorphism and sex-specific genetic dispersal during a poleward range expansion. Rachael Y Dudaniec et al. In Journal of Animal Ecology, May 2021. https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/9833d2c4-cb48-44b4-a762-f66e253670ab

Abstract: Range expansions can be shaped by sex differences in behaviours and other phenotypic traits affecting dispersal and reproduction. Here, we investigate sex differences in morphology, behaviour and genomic population differentiation along a climate-mediated range expansion in the common bluetail damselfly (Ischnura elegans) in northern Europe. We sampled 65 sites along a 583-km gradient spanning the I. elegans range in Sweden and quantified latitudinal gradients in site relative abundance, sex ratio and sex-specific shifts in body size and mating status (a measure of sexual selection). Using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data for 426 individuals from 25 sites, we further investigated sex-specific landscape and climatic effects on neutral genetic connectivity and migration patterns. We found evidence for sex differences associated with the I. elegans range expansion, namely (a) increased male body size with latitude, but no latitudinal effect on female body size, resulting in reduced sexual dimorphism towards the range limit, (b) a steeper decline in male genetic similarity with increasing geographic distance than in females, (c) male-biased genetic migration propensity and (d) a latitudinal cline in migration distance (increasing migratory distances towards the range margin), which was stronger in males. Cooler mean annual temperatures towards the range limit were associated with increased resistance to gene flow in both sexes. Sex ratios became increasingly male biased towards the range limit, and there was evidence for a changed sexual selection regime shifting from favouring larger males in the south to favouring smaller males in the north. Our findings suggest sex-specific spatial phenotype sorting at the range limit, where larger males disperse more under higher landscape resistance associated with cooler climates. The combination of latitudinal gradients in sex-biased dispersal, increasing male body size and (reduced) sexual size dimorphism should have emergent consequences for sexual selection dynamics and the mating system at the expanding range front. Our study illustrates the importance of considering sex differences in the study of range expansions driven by ongoing climate change.

We find support for coalition formation between individuals who share food & labour, & especially kinship; physically formidable men & men higher in informal status were more likely to provide coalitional support over time

Coalitions and conflict: A longitudinal analysis of men's politics. Daniel Redhead, Christopher R. von Rueden. Evolutionary Human Sciences, May 5 2021. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/coalitions-and-conflict-a-longitudinal-analysis-of-mens-politics/06D187167A6F3B1C7D2379D13D89BFA0

Abstract: To negotiate conflict and navigate status hierarchy, individuals in many species form coalitions. We describe inter-personal conflicts and assess theories of coalitionformation in a small-scale human society. Based on longitudinal and cross-sectional social network analysis of men in two communities of Tsimane forager-horticulturalists, we find evidence of reciprocity in coalitional support, as well as evidence of transitivity: an ally of my ally is likely to become my ally. We find mixed support for coalition formation between individuals who share a common adversary. Coalition formation was also predicted by food- and labour-sharing and especially by kinship. Physically formidable men and men higher in informal status were more likely to provide coalitional support over time; evidence was mixed that they receive more coalitional support. The highest status men are hubs of a dense coalitional support network that indirectly link all men in the community. These findings suggest male coalition formation is multiply motivated, and in general reveals the political dynamics that structure men’s lives in small, relatively egalitarian communities.

Media Summary: Among the Tsimane, the emergence of coalitions over time is primarily motivated by social status and existing social relationships between individuals.

Popular version https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/mpif-cac050521.php

From 2020... Sex and gender: modifiers of health, disease, and medicine

From 2020... Sex and gender: modifiers of health, disease, and medicine. Franck Mauvais-Jarvis et al. The Lancet, Volume 396, Issue 10250, August 22-28, 2020, Pages 565-582. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31561-0

Summary: Clinicians can encounter sex and gender disparities in diagnostic and therapeutic responses. These disparities are noted in epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, disease progression, and response to treatment. This Review discusses the fundamental influences of sex and gender as modifiers of the major causes of death and morbidity. We articulate how the genetic, epigenetic, and hormonal influences of biological sex influence physiology and disease, and how the social constructs of gender affect the behaviour of the community, clinicians, and patients in the health-care system and interact with pathobiology. We aim to guide clinicians and researchers to consider sex and gender in their approach to diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases as a necessary and fundamental step towards precision medicine, which will benefit men's and women's health.

Personality might at least partly be expressed in people’s voice pitch: Results suggest substantial negative relationships between voice pitch and self-reported sociosexuality, dominance & extraversion in men & women

Stern, Julia, Christoph Schild, Benedict C. Jones, Lisa M. DeBruine, Amanda Hahn, David Puts, Ingo Zettler, et al. 2019. “Do Voices Carry Valid Information About a Speaker's Personality?.” PsyArXiv. April 11. doi:10.31234/osf.io/9a68c

Abstract: Research on links between peoples’ personality traits and their voices has primarily focused on other peoples’ personality judgments about a target person based on a target person’s vocal characteristics, particularly voice pitch. However, it remains unclear whether individual differences in voices are linked to actual individual differences in personality traits, and thus whether vocal characteristics are indeed valid cues to personality. Here, we investigate how the personality traits of the Five Factor Model of Personality, sociosexuality, and dominance are related to measured fundamental frequency (voice pitch) and formant frequencies (formant position). For this purpose, we conducted a secondary data analysis of a large sample (2,217 participants) from eleven different, independent datasets with a Bayesian approach. Results suggest substantial negative relationships between voice pitch and self-reported sociosexuality, dominance and extraversion in men and women. Thus, personality might at least partly be expressed in people’s voice pitch. Evidence for an association between formant frequencies and self-reported personality traits is not compelling but remains uncertain. We discuss potential underlying biological mechanisms of our effects and suggest a number of implications for future research.

Rolf Degen summarizing... Win–win denial: People have a strong tendency to misperceive trade as a zero sum game in which buyers get the short end of the stick

Win–win denial : the psychological underpinnings of zero-sum thinking. Johnson, Samuel G B, Zhang, Jiewen and Keil, Frank C. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (In Press). May 2021. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/151065

Rolf Degen's take: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1389868809796866048

Abstract: A core proposition in economics is that voluntary exchanges benefit both parties. We show that people often deny the mutually beneficial nature of exchange, instead espousing the belief that one or both parties fail to benefit from the exchange. Across 4 studies (and 8 further studies in the Supplementary Materials), participants read about simple exchanges of goods and services, judging whether each party to the transaction was better off or worse off afterwards. These studies revealed that win–win denial is pervasive, with buyers consistently seen as less likely to benefit from transactions than sellers. Several potential psychological mechanisms underlying win–win denial are considered, with the most important influences being mercantilist theories of value (confusing wealth for money) and theory of mind limits (failing to observe that people do not arbitrarily enter exchanges). We argue that these results have widespread implications for politics and society.