Valuing thinness or fatness in women: reevaluating the effect of resource scarcity

Evolution and Human Behavior Vol/Iss. 26 Published In Pages: 257-270
By Ember, Carol R., Ember, Melvin, Korotayev, Andrey V., de Munck, Victor C.

Hypothesis

"Societies with greater resource scarcity will have more positive valuations of fatness in women" (258).

Note

There was a significant relationship between resource scarcity and valuations of fat in women, but the results were not in the expected direction. Threat of natural disasters was used as the best measure of resource scarcity.

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Spearman’s rank-order correlationNot Supportedp<.05-.51Two-tailed

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Resource ScarcityIndependentDisasters
Valuation Of Fat In WomenDependentBasis Of Marriage, Ethnoanatomy, Sexual Stimulation