The effects of partner directed insults on mate retention and expulsion

Male partner-directed insults (PDIS) have been previously determined to predict controlling behaviors towards women, aimed at retaining their mates; however, there are no empirical studies that have examined this relationship amongst women, nor the relationship between PDIS and mate expulsion. In order to test these relationships, participants were administered the PDIS, the mate-retention inventory short-form (MRI-SF) and two scales assessing mate expulsion tactics (MEI-T) and reasons (MEI-R), the latter two being adopted from Conlan (2007). The findings of this study implicate a relationship between partner directed insults for both male and female samples. In addition, partner directed insults also predicted mate expulsion tactics and reasons. Men and women did not differ in the frequency of mate retention behaviors, nor mate expulsion tactics and reasons. Implications for evolutionarily-derived hypothesis of male-female patterns of behavior will be discussed.