Spousal mate retention in the newlywed year and three years later

The function of mate retention tactics is to prevent a long-term partner from defecting from the relationship and to ward off potential mate poachers. These tactics include Concealment of Mate, Appearance Enhancement, and Violence against Rivals. The current research is the first to investigate the performance of husband’s and wife’s mate retention tactics over time. We assessed 49 husbands and 65 wives on their performance of 19 mate retention tactics once as newlyweds and again four years into the marriage. With this unique dataset, we investigated (1) the cross-time stability of husbands’ and wives’ performance reports of mate retention tactics and (2) sex differences in performance reports of mate retention tactics over time. The results indicated that (1) husbands’ and wives’ performance reports of mate retention tactics as newlyweds correlate positively with their performance reports of mate retention tactics three years later, (2) husbands’ and wives’ performance reports of mate retention tactics decreases after three years of marriage, and (3) sex differences in performance reports of mate retention tactics persist over time. Discussion offers speculations on the stability and change found in mate retention performance, suggests potential correlates of mate retention performance, and addresses limitations of this research. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.