An array of literature spanning economics, sociology, biology, and psychology suggests that the availability of romantic partners has profound consequences for individuals and the societies in which they live. Here we build on this growing body of research to understand how variation in mate availability—operationalized via experimental imbalances in the ratio of men to women (the sex ratio)—affect women’s willingness to enhance their physical and sexual attractiveness to men. Using a series of three treatments, with four replicate stimuli nested within each treatment conditions, we experimentally manipulated the sex ratio of the dating environment for 334 women, giving them the impression that romantic partners were either abundant, scarce, or balanced relative to competitors. We measured women’s satisfaction with their body image, their interest in enhancing their sexual attractiveness to men, their acceptance of cosmetic surgery, and their overall belief that they were a high-quality romantic partner (their mate value; a potential moderator of the sex ratio effect). Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence that sex ratios affected women’s enhancement of their physical and sexual attractiveness, but we did find that individual differences in mate value robustly covaried with all three outcome variables. Results raise the possibility that female self-sexualization does not covary with the relative availability of mates, but that it is reliably associated with individual differences in mate value.

中文翻译：

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女性自性与伴侣价值的协变量，而不与伴侣的可用性有关

涉及经济学，社会学，生物学和心理学的大量文献表明，浪漫伴侣的存在对个人和他们所生活的社会具有深远的影响。在这里，我们以不断发展的研究为基础，以了解通过男性与女性的比例（性别比）的实验失衡来操作伴侣的可用性如何影响女性增强其对男性的身体和性吸引力的意愿。通过一系列的三种治疗，在每种治疗条件下嵌套有四个重复刺激，我们实验性地控制了334名女性的约会环境的性别比，给他们的印象是浪漫伴侣相对于竞争对手而言既丰富，稀缺或平衡。我们测量了女性对其身体形象的满意度，他们对增强对男人的性吸引力，对整容手术的接受以及对他们是高品质浪漫伴侣的整体信念（他们的伴侣价值；性别比例效应的潜在调节者）的兴趣。与预期相反，我们没有发现证据表明性别比率影响女性增强其身体和性吸引力，但是我们确实发现，配偶价值的个体差异与所有三个结果变量均具有稳健的协变量。结果增加了女性的自性倾向与配偶的相对可利用度无关的可能性，但它确实与配偶价值的个体差异相关。并且他们总体上认为自己是高品质的浪漫伴侣（他们的伴侣价值；性别比例效应的潜在调节者）。与预期相反，我们没有发现证据表明性别比率影响女性增强其身体和性吸引力，但是我们确实发现，配偶价值的个体差异与所有三个结果变量均具有稳健的协变量。结果增加了女性的自性倾向与配偶的相对可利用度无关的可能性，但它确实与配偶价值的个体差异相关。并且他们总体上认为自己是高品质的浪漫伴侣（他们的伴侣价值；性别比例效应的潜在调节者）。与预期相反，我们没有发现证据表明性别比率影响女性增强其身体和性吸引力，但是我们确实发现，配偶价值的个体差异与所有三个结果变量均具有稳健的协变量。结果增加了女性的自性倾向与配偶的相对可利用度无关的可能性，但它确实与配偶价值的个体差异相关。但是我们确实发现，配偶值的个体差异与所有三个结果变量均具有稳健的协变关系。结果增加了女性的自性倾向与配偶的相对可利用度无关的可能性，但它确实与配偶价值的个体差异相关。但是我们确实发现，配偶值的个体差异与所有三个结果变量均具有稳健的协变关系。结果增加了女性的自性倾向与配偶的相对可利用度无关的可能性，但它确实与配偶价值的个体差异相关。