Because low-sex-ratio societies are likely to have increased family conflict, and because family conflict increases aggression, it was predicted that these societies would have higher rates of violent crimes such as homicide, rape, and assaults. These predictions were supported in regression analyses of Interpol data for 70 countries that used a variety of controls for level of economic development, ecology (mean temperature, population density, population movement), marriage system, and geographical region. The results indicate that family variables can account for a substantial amount of the crossnational variance in violent crime.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, C. A. (1987). Temperature and aggression: Effects on quarterly, yearly, and city rates of violent and nonviolent crimes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 19, 146-156.
2.
Archer, D., & Gartner, R. (1984). Violence and crime in cross-national perspective. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
3.
Barber, N. (1998a). Ecological and psychosocial correlates of male homosexuality: A cross-cultural investigation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29, 387-401.
4.
Barber, N. (1998b). Parenting: Roles, styles, and outcomes.Commack, NY: Nova Science.
5.
Barber, N. (1998c). Predicting social problems from parental investment indicators at birth using U.S. population data. Manuscript submitted for publication.
6.
Barber, N. (1998d). The role of reproductive strategies in academic attainment. Sex Roles, 38, 313-323.
7.
Barber, N. (1998e). Sex differences in disposition toward kin, security of adult attachment, and sociosexuality as a function of parental divorce. Evolution and Human Behavior, 19, 1-8.
8.
Barber, N. (1998f). The slender ideal and eating disorders: An interdisciplinary ‘telescope’ model. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 23, 449-454.
9.
Barber, N. (2000). On the relationship between country sex ratios and teen pregnancy rates: A replication. Cross-Cultural Research, 34, 26-37.
10.
Barber, N. (in press-a). On the relationship between marital opportunity and teen pregnancy: The sex ratio question. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
11.
Barber, N. (in press-b). Why parents matter: Parental investment and child outcomes. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.
12.
Belsky, J., Steinberg, L., & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experience, inter-personal development, and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Development, 62, 647-670.
13.
Calhoun, J. B. (1962). Population density and social pathology. Scientific American, 206, 139-148.
14.
Carlisle, R. (Ed.). (1989). The illustrated encyclopedia of mankind.New York: Marshall Cavendish.
15.
Central Intelligence Agency. (1995). World factbook. Washington, DC: Author.
16.
Coley, R. L., & Chase-Lansdale, P. L. (1998). Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood: Recent evidence and future directions. American Psycholo-gist, 53, 152-166.
17.
Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1983). Sex, evolution, and behavior(2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
18.
Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1988). Homicide.Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
19.
Ellis, L. (1987). Criminal behavior and r/K selection: An extension of gene-based evolutionary theory. Deviant Behavior, 8, 149-176.
20.
Ember, C. R., & Ember, M. (1993). Issues in cross-cultural studies of inter-personal violence. Violence and Victims, 8, 217-233.
21.
Ember, C. R., & Ember, M. (1994). War, socialization, and interpersonal violence. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 38, 620-646.
22.
Ember, M. (1974). Warfare, sex ratio, and polygyny. Ethnology, 13, 197-206.
23.
Ember, M. (1985). Alternative predictors of polygyny. Behavioral Science Research, 19, 1-23.
24.
Empey, L. T., & Stafford, M. C. (1991). American delinquency: Its meaning and construction(3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
25.
Forehand, R., McCombs, A., Long, N., Brody, G., & Fauber, R. (1988). Early adolescent adjustment to recent parental divorce: The role of interparental conflict and adolescent sex as mediating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 624-627.
26.
Gabor, T., & Roberts, J. V. (1990). Rushton on race and crime: The evidence remains unconvincing. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 32, 335-343.
27.
Galle, O. R., Gove, W. R., & McPherson, J. M. (1972). Population density and pathology: What are the relations for man?Science, 176, 23-30.
28.
Guttentag, M., & Secord, P. F. (1983). Too many women: The sex ratio question. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
29.
Hendrix, L. (1996). Illegitimacy and social structures: Cross-cultural perspectives on nonmarital birth. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
30.
Hunter, B. (Ed.). (1991). The statesman’s yearbook,(128th ed.). New York: St. Martin’s.
31.
Interpol. (1990). International crime statistics.Paris: Author.
32.
Levinson, D. (1989). Family violence in cross-cultural perspective. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
33.
Low, B. S. (1988). Measures of polygyny in humans. Current Anthropology, 29, 189-194.
34.
Lykken, D. (1995). The antisocial personalities.Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
35.
Neapolitan, J. L. (1999). A comparative analysis of nations with low and high levels of violent crime. Journal of Criminal Justice, 27, 259-274.
36.
Patterson, G. R., DeBaryshe, B. D., & Ramsey, E. (1989). A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior. American Psychologist, 44, 329-335.
37.
Pedersen, F. A. (1991). Secular trends in human sex ratios: Their influence on individual and family behavior. Human Nature, 2, 271-291.
38.
Population Reference Bureau. (1998). World population data sheet. Washington, DC: Author.
39.
Reiss, D., Heatherington, E. M., Plomin, R., Rowe, G. W., Simmens, S. J., Henderson, S. H., O’Conner, T. J., Bussell, D., Anderson, E. R., & Law, T. (1995). Genetic questions for environmental studies: Differential parenting and psychopathology in adolescence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52, 925-936.
40.
Rushton, J. P. (1995). Race and crime: International data for 1989-1990. Psychological Reports, 76, 307-312.
41.
Secord, P. F. (1983). Imbalanced sex ratios: The social consequences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9, 525-543.
42.
South, S. J., & Messner, S. F. (1986). The sex ratio and women’s involvement in: A cross-national analysis. The Sociological Quarterly, 28, 171-188.
43.
South, S. J., & Trent, K. (1988). Sex ratios and women’s roles: A cross-national analysis. American Journal of Sociology, 93, 1096-1115.
44.
Stack, R. (1988). The effect of domestic/religious individualism on suicide. In D. L. Thomas (Ed.), The religion and family connection(pp. 175-204). Provo, UT: Brigham Young University.
45.
Strassman, B. (1997). Polygyny as a risk factor for child mortality among the Dogon. Current Anthropology, 38, 688-695.
46.
Trent, K., & South, S. J. (1989). Structural determinants of the divorce rate: A cross-societal analysis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 391-404.
47.
United Nations. (1987-1994). Demographic yearbook of the United Nations. New York: Author.
48.
Whiting, B. B. (1965). Sex identity conflict and physical violence. American Anthropologist, 67, 123-140.
49.
World Health Organization. (1987-1993). World health statistics annual. Geneva, Switzerland: Author.
