Age differences between U.S. Politicians and Their Spouses: Similar to the Super Rich or more like your average Joe?

Demetriou, Andrew Marios and Pollet, Thomas (2015) Age differences between U.S. Politicians and Their Spouses: Similar to the Super Rich or more like your average Joe? Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science, 6 (2). pp. 29-32. ISSN 1884-927X

[img]
Preview
Text
153-621-1-PB.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (417kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.5178/lebs.2015.39

Abstract

Prior research has shown that a sample of super-wealthy
men tended to marry (and remarry) younger women than the general U.S. population (Pollet, Pratt, Edwards, & Stulp, 2013). This relationship has been argued to fit with a notion of a mating market, whereby wealthy men offer access to resources in exchange for female youth. The present research examines whether or not a similar exchange relationship potentially also exists in a sample of U.S. politicians, as it is expected that male politicians might also offer resources in exchange for youth. Using data collected via Wikipedia and online news sources on ranking U.S. politicians, our data show that the difference in age between a male politician and his wife does not differ significantly from the current estimate of the general U.S. population. Male U.S. Politicians do show significantly smaller age gaps than the estimate for men from the Forbes 400, however. These results suggests that, at least in terms of the age-gap in marriage, U.S. politicians resemble the general population more than they do the economic elite, perhaps due to a pressure to conform to social norms.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: human mate choice, United States political leadership, evolutionary psychology
Subjects: C800 Psychology
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User: Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited: 25 Sep 2017 10:25
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2021 05:50
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/31965

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics