PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Ginger R. Clark
MA-Research
May 1998

Developing an Evolutionary Perspective on Human Sexual Styles

    An extended replication of David P. Schmitt’s study: “The Evolution of Human Sexual Styles” was conducted.  Our goal was to explore the variables that contribute to the development of human sexual styles.  Three types of predictors were used in the study: (1) personality traits, (2) mate value, and (3) attachment styles.  Our data only produced results for female participants, since the number of men in the study was small.  Our confirmatory analyses refuted Schmitt’s finding that, for women, neuroticism and insecure-avoidant attachment directly predicted committed sexual styles.  The data we obtained showed that agreeableness directly predicted committed sexual styles, and negative attachment styles and neuroticism were only indirectly related.  In the analysis of permissive sexual styles, our results also differed from Schmitt’s.  The final model for permissive sexual styles for women included a negative relationship with agreeableness, and a positive predictive relationship with neuroticism, intellect, financial worth, and ambition.

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