A latent variable model of developmental instability in relation to men's sexual behaviour

A single trait's fluctuating asymmetry (, FA) is expected to be a poor meas ure of developmental instability. Hence, studies that examine associations between FA and outcomes expected to covary with developmental instability o ften have little power in detecting meaningful relationships. One way of in creasing the power of detecting relationships between developmental instabi lity and Outcomes is through the use of multiple traits' FA. The way multip le traits have typically been used is in trait aggregates. Here, we illustr ate another way of examining relationships with developmental instability u sing multiple traits' FA: through structural equation modelling. Covariance s between measures of FA and an outcome variable are interpreted within the context of an explicit model of associations between variables, which is t ested for fit and the parameters specified within the. model are estimated. We used nine traits' FA as markers of a latent variable of men's developme ntal instability, which was associated with the number of sexual partners. The results indicate a sizeable correlation between developmental instabili ty and men's sexual history, despite small correlations between individual traits' EA and sexual history.