Parent-Offspring Conflict over Mating: The Case of Family Background

Abstract

In human societies the choice of a spouse is the outcome of individual mating choice and parental influence over mating. However, parents and offspring do not share identical interests with respect to mating. Accordingly, in order to understand this process it is necessary to examine the degree to which parents and offspring agree or disagree over mating choices. Trivers (1974) originally hypothesized that the two parties are in conflict over the family background of a mating candidate, with parents valuing this trait more than their offspring in a mating candidate. In this article this hypothesis is developed theoretically and empirically. It is proposed that that historically a preference for good family background increased the fitness of the parents more than the fitness of their offspring. Using a sample of 305 parents, the hypothesis is tested that good family background is preferred more in an in-law than in a spouse. The results from this study provide support for this hypothesis.