Reproductive‐age women are overrepresented among perpetrators of husband killing

When a woman kills her husband, it is almost always an unplanned action of self‐defense against a battering husband or a last‐ditch attempt to survive a batterer's tyranny. Younger, reproductive‐age women are battered and killed by husbands at higher rates than are older, postreproductive‐age women. Because husband killing occurs in the context of self‐defense or as a last‐ditch effort to survive, reproductive‐age women should kill their husbands at higher rates than do postreproductive‐age women. I used a sample of 8,077 husband killings to test this hypothesis. Results support the hypothesis and document that (1) the highest rates of husband killing are for the youngest women, (2) the youngest husbands are at greatest risk of being killed by their wives, (3) women married to older men kill their husbands at higher rates than do women married to same‐age men and women married to younger men, and (4) reproductive‐age women kill their husbands at higher rates than do postreproductive‐age women across two groups: women married to younger men and women married to older men. Discussion suggests directions for future work that can improve the identification of women at greatest risk for husband killing. Aggr. Behav. 26:309–317, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Residual Geriatric Depression Symptoms: A Place for Psychotherapy

Geriatric depression is a relatively commonly occurring mental disorder. A subpopulation of depressed older adults are those who have engaged in or completed pharmacotherapy, yet continue to experience depressive symptoms. We review the prevalence, psychosocial effects, and treatment of residual symptoms of depression in older adults. Data from previous studies conducted by our group are presented to support our contention that residual symptoms of geriatric depression are treatable through psychosocial means.     

男性监控配偶、配偶不贞与精子竞争的关系

精子竞争是指同一女性产道中两个或两个以上男人的精子相互竞争卵子的过程。女性得到社会承认的性伙伴可能因精子竞争失败而损失惨重,因为女性私通可能引起男性投资于不携带自己基因的后代。过去研究表明进化而来的男性配偶监控策略可以防止女性不贞,减少精子竞争失败的危险。当前研究发现男性与配偶进行性行为后离别时间越久,男性就越采取出其不意地打电话、独占配偶时间、威胁对配偶感兴趣的男性等手段来监控配偶     

Perceived risk of female infidelity moderates the relationship between men’s personality and partner-directed violence

We hypothesized that men’s personality traits interact with men’s perceived risk of partner’s infidelity to predict men’s partner-directed violence. Moderation analyses of data provided by 467 men in a committed relationship indicated that: (1) men with lower emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and men who perceived greater risk of partner infidelity perpetrated more partner-directed violence, and (2) the relationship between men’s personality traits and partner-directed violence depends on their perceptions of the risk of partner infidelity. Simple slope analyses indicated that: (a) men’s emotional stability and agreeableness predict partner-directed violence only when perceived risk of partner infidelity is low, and (b) men’s conscientiousness predicts partner-directed violence only when perceived risk of partner infidelity is high.     

Immigration, parasitic infection, and United States religiosity

Fincher & Thornhill (F&T) present a powerful case for the relationship between parasite-stress and religiosity. We argue, however, that the United States may be more religious than can be accounted for by parasite-stress. This greater religiosity might be attributable to greater sensitivity to immigration, which may hyperactivate evolved mechanisms that motivate avoidance of potential carriers of novel parasites.     

Comparative evolutionary psychology of sperm competition

A comparative evolutionary psychological perspective predicts that species that recurrently faced similar adaptive problems may have evolved similar psychological mechanisms to solve these problems. Sperm competition provides an arena in which to assess the heuristic value of such a comparative evolutionary perspective. The sperm competition that results from female infidelity and polyandry presents a similar class of adaptive problems for individuals across many species. The authors first describe mechanisms of sperm competition in insects and in birds. They suggest that the adaptive problems and evolved solutions in these species provide insight into human anatomy, physiology, psychology, and behavior. The authors then review recent theoretical and empirical arguments for the existence of sperm competition in humans and discuss proposed adaptations in humans that have analogs in insects or birds. The authors conclude by highlighting the heuristic value of a comparative evolutionary psychological approach in this field.