Sexual Selection in Homo sapiens: Parental Control over Mating and the Opportunity Cost of Free Mate Choice

Almost all scholarly effort focuses on sexual selection in non-human species and extrapolates the findings to the human one.

However, human mating has a unique pattern not found in any other species, namely parental influence over mate choice.

Across preindustrial societies, the typical pattern of long-term mating is arranged marriage, where parents choose spouses for their children.

By doing so, parents effectively become a sexual selection force.

Traits that enhance an individual's chance to be selected as a son- or a daughter-in-law confer important reproductive advantages to those who are endowed with them, increasing in frequency in the population.

The author has coined the term parental choice to describe the sexual selection force that arises from parental control over mating.

He synthesises extensive theoretical and empirical work in order to understand and model this force.