Abstract
Secular change in sex ratios is examined in relation to experience in the family. Two theoretical perspectives are outlined: Guttentag and Secord’s (1983) adaptation of social exchange theory, and sexual selection theory. Because of large-scale change in number of births and typical age differentials between men and women at marriage, low sex ratios at couple formation ages existed in the U.S. between 1965 and the early 1980s. The currently high sex ratios, however, will persist until the end of the century. High sex ratios appear to be associated with lower divorce rates, male commitment to careers that promise economic rewards, male willingness to engage in child care, higher fertility, and higher rates of sexual violence. Sexual selection theory calls attention to intrasexual competition in the numerically larger sex.
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Frank Pedersen is currently Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Individual and Family Studies at the University of Delaware. He received his Ph.D. in psychology at Ohio State University. He has conducted studies of early parent-child relations with a special focus on paternal behavior. With Phyllis Berman, he recently edited the book,Men’s Transitions to Parenthood: Longitudinal Studies of Early Family Experience (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1987).
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Pedersen, F.A. Secular trends in human sex ratios. Human Nature 2, 271–291 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692189
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692189