Using SEM to test the associations among women's childhood ecology, adult psychosocial life history traits, and mating effort

The purpose of this study was to investigate childhood ecology before the age of 10 and adult psychosocial Life History (LH) traits as predictors of adult mating effort. College women ( N = 875) volunteered in an online Qualtrics study. SEM analysis showed that faster life psychosocial traits explained 22.2 % of the relation between the childhood microsystem and mating effort. Women who experienced a disordered microsystem (childhood trauma, parental disengagement, parental cohabitation with an unrelated adult, and crime in their neighborhood) were more likely to exhibit adult faster LH personality traits such as psychopathy, impulsivity, resource control, tendencies, and neuroticism. These personality traits were also associated with a greater number of lifetime sexual partners, shorter-term mating orientation, and greater intention to engage in risky sexual behaviors. In addition, a disordered microsystem, and perceived resource insecurity related to having more lifetime sexual partners, shorter-term mating orientation, and greater endorsement of future risky sexual behaviors.