SEX-DIFFERENCES IN DISPOSITION TOWARDS KIN, SECURITY OF ADULT ATTACHMENT, AND SOCIOSEXUALITY AS A FUNCTION OF PARENTAL DIVORCE

Parents who are not capable of producing high-quality children tend to invest more in daughters. When parents divorce, the investment per of fspring inevitably declines. It was predicted that parental divorce wo uld result in development of more manipulative, less altruistic interp ersonal attitudes-except for the relationship between daughters and ki n. It also was predicted that parental divorce would produce insecurit y in adult relationships, lower academic performance, and increased se xuality. Students (N = 139) provided family demographics and personal information including American College Test score and grade-point aver age (GPA), They completed questionnaires measuring adult security of a ttachment, helping attitudes, Machiavellianism, and sexual restrictedn ess (sociosexuality [SOI]), Children of divorce had increased SOI scor es, were less helpful, and had lower GPAs, Women whose parents had div orced were more Machiavellian towards people in general but not toward s relatives, as predicted. Parental divorce was associated with reduce d probability of being securely attached for women but not for men. Re sults indicate the need for more precise theory making different predi ctions for men and women, (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.