Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
We are sorry, but NCBI web applications do not support your browser and may not function properly. More information
    Proc Biol Sci. 2003 Apr 7;270(1516):709-12.

    Variable preferences for sexual dimorphism in height as a strategy for increasing the pool of potential partners in humans.

    Source

    Department of Anthropology, University of Wrocław, ulica Kuźnica 35, Wrocław 50-138, Poland. bogus@antropo.uni.wroc.pl

    Abstract

    Human mate preferences are known to be related to a number of morphological traits. Those relating to female waist-to-hip ratio or body mass index and to male height appear to be distinctive mate-choice criteria and are known to be related to reproductive success. In addition to absolute height, a possibly important mate-choice criterion may be relative height, i.e. the extent of sexual dimorphism in stature (SDS = male height/female height) between oneself and a potential partner. Here, I demonstrate that people adjust their preferences for SDS in relation to their own height in order to increase the potential pool of partners. This causes nonlinearity in assortative mating in relation to height and shows that in relation to intrapopulational SDS both men and women are responsible for stabilizing selection.

    PMID:
    12713744
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
    PMCID:
    PMC1691293
    Free PMC Article

      Supplemental Content

      Icon for HighWire Icon for PubMed Central

      Save items

      Recent activity

      Your browsing activity is empty.

      Activity recording is turned off.

      Turn recording back on

      See more...
      Write to the Help Desk