Review of Human Mating Patterns.

It has been argued that size matters on the human mate market: both stated preferences and mate choices have been found to be non-random with respect to height and weight. But how universal are these patterns? Most of the literature on human mating patterns is based on post-industrial societies. Much less is known about mating behaviour in more traditional societies. Here we investigate mate choice by analysing whether there is any evidence for non-random mating with respect to size and strength in a forager community, the Hadza of Tanzania. We test whether couples assort for height, weight, body mass index (BMI), per cent fat and grip strength. We test whether there is a male-taller norm. Finally, we test for an association between anthropometric variables and number of marriages. Our results show no evidence for assortative mating for height, weight, BMI or per cent fat; no evidence for a male-taller norm and no evidence that number of marriages is associated with our size variables. Hadza couples may assort positively for grip strength, but grip strength does not affect the number of marriages. Overall we conclude that, in contrast to post-industrial societies, mating appears to be random with respect to size in the Hadza.

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Human Mating Patterns

Journal of Medical Genetics ◽

10.1136/jmg.26.8.541-a ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 26 (8) ◽

pp. 541-542

Author(s):

A. P Read

Keyword(s):

Mating Patterns ◽

Human Mating

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: Human Mating Patterns . C. G. N. Mascie-Taylor, A. J. Boyce.

American Anthropologist ◽

10.1525/aa.1990.92.2.02a00660 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 92 (2) ◽

pp. 548-549

Author(s):

John Relethford

Keyword(s):

Mating Patterns ◽

Human Mating

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Human Mating Patterns. Society for the Study of Human Biology Symposium No. 28. Edited by C. G. N. Mascie-Taylor & A. J. Boyce (Cambridge University Press, 1988.) £25.00 (US $49.50).

Journal of Biosocial Science ◽

10.1017/s0021932000018757 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 387-388

Author(s):

Malcolm Smith

Keyword(s):

Human Biology ◽

Cambridge University ◽

Mating Patterns ◽

Biology Symposium ◽

Human Mating

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Human mating models can benefit from comparative primatology and careful methodology

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x00403377 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 602-603 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Agustin Fuentes

Keyword(s):

Mating Strategies ◽

Behavioral Data ◽

Data Sets ◽

Mating Patterns ◽

Wide Range ◽

Comparative Primatology ◽

Human Mating

Conditional mating strategies and within-sex variation in mating patterns occur across a wide range of primate taxa. Attempts to model the evolution of human mating strategies should incorporate current primatological data sets and phylogenetic perspectives. However, comparisons between interview and questionnaire-based human behavioral data and observationally and experimental generated nonhuman behavioral data should be conducted with prudence.

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