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Category: Project

Description: Evolutionary theories posit that higher social status is conducive to men’s reproductive success. Extant research from historical records, small scale societies, and industrialized societies support this hypothesis. However, the relationship between status difference between spouses and reproductive outcome is less investigated. Moreover, even fewer studies directly compared the effect of status and/or status between spouses on reproductive outcomes on men and women. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) survey conducted between 2010 and 2017 (N = 55,875; 28,931 women) and operationalizing social status as standardized income and educational level (compared with same-sex peers), we examined how social status and relative status between spouses impact men’s and women’s mating and reproductive outcomes. We found that (1) Men who had higher social status were more likely to have long-term mating (being in a marriage and/or not going through marriage disruption) and reproductive success, mainly through having a lower risk of childlessness; (2) women who were higher social status were less likely to have mating success and reproductive success; and (3) relative status between spouses had an impact on the couple’s reproductive success, couples where the husband had higher status compared to the wife had higher reproductive success. Thus, social status positively indicates men’s reproductive success, but relative status between spouses may also affect mating and impact childbearing decisions.