Why do men insult their intimate partners? Partner-directed insults and mate retention.

摘要

Men sometimes insult their intimate partners and these insults predict intimate partner violence. No research has investigated the function of men's partner-directed insults. I hypothesize that men's partner-directed insults are designed to retain their long term mate and, therefore, that men's use of partner-directed insults will covary with other mate retention behaviors. Using the Mate Retention Inventory and the Partner-Directed Insults Scale, I conducted two studies to test this hypothesis. Study 1 included 245 men who reported their mate retention behaviors and partner-directed insults. Correlations and multiple regression analyses documented the predicted relationships between men's partner-directed insults and mate retention behaviors. Study 2 included 372 women who reported their partner's mate retention behaviors and insults that their partner directed at them. The results replicated the results of Study 1. Discussion highlights future directions for investigating the relationships between men's partner-directed insults and mate retention behaviors.