The current investigation was undertaken to examine the possible role of life history (LH) strategy in the correspondence between being a victim of sexual coercion and being a perpetrator. Although victimhood was associated with LH strategies for males, and LH strategy was associated with perpetration for both sexes, mediation by LH strategy between victimhood and perpetrating was not supported. Support was found for life history strategy as a moderator, but only for females. Females with a fast life history strategy coupled with high levels of victimhood exhibited the highest levels of perpetration. The results were found while controlling for individual differences in age, aggression and self-control. While a correspondence between general (not sex specific) victimhood and perpetration was found, the relationship was not moderated by life history strategy. The role of LH strategy in accounting for individual difference in sexual coercion is discussed. It is speculated that greater plasticity in sexuality is a LH characteristic in females.
P. B. Anderson 1996 Correlates of college women's self-reports of heterosexual aggression Sexual Abuse 8 121 131.
B. J. Arneklev H. G. Grasmick R. J. Bursik 1998 Evaluating the dimensionality and invariance of “Low Self-Control Journal of Quantitative Criminology 15 307 331.
R.F. Baumeister 2000 Gender differences in erotic plasticity: The female sex drive as socially flexible and responsive Psychological Bulletin 126 347 374.
R. M. Baron D. A. Kenny 1986 The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51 1173 1182.
J. Belsky L. Steinberg P. Draper 1991 Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary theory of socialization Child Development 62 647 670.
Brousseau, M. M., Hebert, M. and Bergeron, S. (in press): Sexual coercion within mixed-sex couples: The roles of sexual motives, revictimization, and reperpetration. Journal of Sex Research.
A. H. Buss M. Perry 1992 The aggression questionnaire Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 63 452 459.
D.M. Buss D.P. Schmitt 1993 Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating Psychological Review 100 204 232.
M. Del Giudice 2009 Sex, attachment, and the development of reproductive strategies Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32 1 21.
P. Draper H. Harpending 1982 Father absence and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary perspective Journal of Anthropological Research 38 255 273.
C. S. Dunkel M. Decker 2010 Convergent validity of measures of life history strategy Personality and Individual Differences 48 681 684.
C.S. Dunkel E. Mathes 2011 The effect of individual differences and manipulated life expectancies on the willingness to engage in sexual coercion Evolutionary Psychology 9 588 599.
Dunkel, C.S., Mathes, E., and Beaver, K.M. (in press): Life History Theory and the General Theory of Crime: Life Expectancy Effects on Low Self-Control and Criminal Intent. Journal of Social, Cultural, and Evolutionary Psychology.
C.S. Dunkel E. Mathes D.R. Papini 2010 The effect of life expectancy on aggression and generativity: A life history perspective Evolutionary Psychology 8 492 505.
B.J. Ellis A.J. Figueredo B.H. Brumbach G.L. Schlomer 2009 The impact of harsh versus unpredictable environments on the evolution and development of life history strategies Human Nature 20 204 268.
L. Ellis 1988 Criminal behavior and r/K selection: an extension of gene-based evolutionary theory Personality and Individual Differences 9 697 708.
A.J. Figueredo G. Vásquez B.H. Brumbach S.M.R. Schneider J.A. Sefcek I.R. Tal D. Hill C.J. Wenner W.J. Jacobs 2006 Consilience and life history theory: From genes to brain reproductive strategy Developmental Review 26 243 275.
Gamez-guadix, M., Straus, M. A. and Hershberger, S. (in press): Childhood and adolescent victimization and perpetration of sexual coercion by male and female university students. Deviant Behavior.
P.R. Gladden M. Sisco A.J. Figueredo 2008 Sexual coercion and life history strategy Evolution and Human Behavior 29 319 326.
M. R. Gottfredson T. Hirschi 1990 A general theory of crime Stanford University Press Stanford, CA.
H. G. Grasmick C. R. Tittle R. J. Bursik B. J. Arnekley 1993 Testing the core empirical implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 30 5 29.
M.P. Koss C. A. Gidycz N. Wisniewski 1987 The scope of rape: Incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 55 162 170.
M. P. Koss C. J. Oros 1982 Sexual Experiences Survey: A research instrument investigating sexual aggression and victimization Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 50 455 457.
B. Krahe E. Waizenhofer I. Moller 2003 Women's sexual aggression against men: Prevalence and predictors Sex Roles 49 219 232.
C. Loh C. A. Gidycz 2006 A prospective analysis of the relationship between childhood sexual victimization and perpetration of dating violence and sexual assault in adulthood Journal of Interpersonal Violence 21 732 749.
A. E. Lyndon J. W. White K. M. Kadiec 2007 Manipulation and force as sexual coercion tactics: Conceptual and empirical differences Aggressive behavior 33 291 303.
E. W. Mathes J. Mccoy 2011 Perpetration of sexual coercion and victim of sexual coercion scales: Development and validation Psychological Reports 108 449 469.
E. R. Pianka 1970 On r- and K-selection American Naturalist 104 592 596.
D. E. L. Promislow P. H. Harvey 1990 Living fast and dying young: A comparative analysis of life-history variation among mammals Journal of Zoology 220 417 437.
D. E. L. Prowislow P. H. Harvey 1991 Mortality rates and the evolution of mammal life histories Acta OEcologia 12 119 137.
E. Romano R. V. de Luca 1997 Exploring the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual perpetration Journal of Family Violence 12 85 97.
E. Romano R. V. de Luca 2001 Male sexual abuse: A review of effects, abuse characteristics and links with later psychological functioning Aggression and Violent Behavior 6 55 78.
B. L. Russell D. L. Oswald 2001 Strategies and dispositional correlates of sexual coercion perpetrated by women: An exploratory investigation Sex Roles 45 103 115.
B. L. Russell D. L. Oswald 2002 Sexual coercion and victimization of college men: The role of love styles Journal of Interpersonal Violence 17 273 284.
J.P. Simmons L.D. Nelson U. Simonsohn 2011 False-positive psychology: Undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant Psychological Science 17 1359 1366.
J. M. Vigil D. C. Geary J. Byrd-craven 2005 A life history assessment of early childhood sexual abuse in women Developmental Psychology 41 553 561.
M.A. Woodley 2011 The cognitive differentiation-integration effort hypothesis: A synthesis between the fitness indicator and life history models of human intelligence Review of General Psychology 15 228 245.