Sexual conflict and remarriage in preindustrial human populations: Causes and fitness consequences

Abstract

Sexual conflict is said to occur when one mating partner has an opportunity to increase its fitness at the cost of the other. We analyzed the effect of remarriage on lifetime reproductive success (LRS) in three preindustrial (1700-1900) socially monogamous Sami populations. In all populations, ever-married women's age-specific mortality rates exceeded those of ever-married men during reproductive years. After the death of a spouse, men had a higher probability of remarriage than did women of the same age. Remarried men had a higher LRS than men who married only once, but this was not true for women. The higher LRS of the twice-married men was probably due to their longer (+5 years; p < .05) reproductive lifespan (RLS) as compared to once-married men. There was no difference in the RLS of women who married once or twice. These results suggest the sexual conflict in these populations was won by men because women paid a higher cost from reproduction (i.e., reduced survival), and men were able to remarry more often than women, thereby realizing more of their higher reproductive potential. Consequently, serial monogamy seem to have been an important male reproductive strategy in these historical populations. © 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.