Adult attachment and life history strategies: The influence of mortality and socioeconomic status on reproductive desires
Abstract
Strategies: The Influence of Mortality Salience and Socioeconomic Status on Reproductive Desires (Under the direction of Maxwell Twum -Asante, Ph.D.) Using a sample of 176 undergraduate students, 145 females (74 with children, 71 without children) and 31 males (8 with children, 23 without children), this study sought to examine the relationship between mortality cues, adult attachment styles, and reproductive desire. Borrowing from both Life History Theory and Adult Attachment Theory, influences on reproductive timing were examined. Questionnaires assessing reproductive timing desires, socioeconomic status (both current and childhood SES), and adult relationship attachment (the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ)) were utilized. The hypotheses were not supported. However, exploratory analyses revealed significant differences between participants' reproductive attitudes towards having children in the next few years. Overall, when presented with mortality cues, participants expressed a stronger desire to reproduce; and among individuals without children, in comparison to subjects with children, participants in the mortality condition expressed a desire to have children at younger ages.
Subject Area
Psychology
Recommended Citation
Parks, Chermaine Alexandria, "Adult attachment and life history strategies: The influence of mortality and socioeconomic status on reproductive desires" (2014). ETD Collection for Fayetteville State University. AAI1525795.
https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/dissertations/AAI1525795