Rethinking the couvade: cross-cultural evidence

American Anthropologist • Vol/Iss. 90 • Published In • Pages: 902-911 •
By Broude, Gwen J.

Hypothesis

Controlling for status envy, mother-infant sleeping arrangements and frequent matrilocality, along with father absence, will be correlated with the couvade (905).

Note

No societies tested exhibit mother-infant sleeping arrangements and frequent matrilocality, as well as father absence. However, when societies without mother-infant sleeping arrangements and frequent matrilocality are examined, father salience is significantly correlated with the couvade (p< .02).

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Chi squareNot SupportedUNKNOWNUNKNOWNUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
CouvadeDependentPostnatal Care, Pregnancy
Father AbsenceIndependentInfant Care
Mother-infant Sleeping ArrangementsIndependentSleeping, Infant Care
ResidenceIndependentResidence
Status EnvyCombinedSleeping, Residence, Infant Care

Related Hypotheses

Main AuthorHypothesis
Munroe, Robert L.Exclusive mother-infant sleeping arrangements, matrilocal residence, and “protest masculinity” will be positively associated with the couvade (730-731).
Munroe, Robert L."The prediction . . . was that the couvade would be found in association with mother-infant sleeping arrangements, and/or matri-residence. . . . Relatively low male salience, as experienced by male children in societies characterized by a form of matri-residence [or] . . . in the presence of exclusive mother-infant sleeping arrangements . . . might lead to cross-sex identity and to a particular projective system outcome--the couvade" (40, 39)
Ayres, Barbara"Bride theft represents a delayed and displaced acting out of the Oedipal conflict. Such conflict should be maximized in societies where the probablility of mother-infant seduction was high (mother-child households and mother-infant sleeping arrangements) and where the child's competition with the father was most intense (high father involvement in caretaking)" (248)
Broude, Gwen J.The role of the father will be associated with circumcision, the couvade, and protest masculinity (170).
Broude, Gwen J.The role of the father will be the most significant predictor of circumcision, the couvade, and protest masculinity (172).