Self-esteem as an adaptive sociometer of mating success: Evaluating evidence of sex-specific psychological design across 10 world regions

Abstract

According to an evolutionary-adaptive version of sociometer theory, because men, more than women, have faced the adaptive problem of obtaining large numbers of willing short-term mating partners, positive associations between self-esteem and number of past sexual partners should be stronger among men than women. We correlated self-esteem with number of past sexual partners in a sample of more than 16,000 people across 10 major regions of the world. Results largely supported our prediction. This amply powered research investigation provided a limited, but revealing, test of an evolutionary-adaptive sociometer theory of self-esteem. For men, successfully accessing more sexual partners, regardless of personal desire or the mores of wider culture, was generally associated with higher self-esteem. For women, the links between numbers of sexual partners and self-esteem were much more dependent on culture.