title: Is there a sensitive period in human incest avoidance?
abstract: Many studies support the proposition that early cosocialization with opposite-sex children has the effect of inhibiting later mutual sexual attraction, but the existence of a period in the life cycle in which individuals are sensitive to the effect of early cosocialization has been a matter of controversy. Drawing on earlier traditional psychological research, and on more recent work guided by parental investment theory, we hypothesized that only for maternal perinatal association (MPA)-absent males a less-than- around-three-years age difference with the sister can predict stronger aversion to sibling incest. The results corroborated the hypothesis. The results can be interpreted as support for the existence of a sensitive period as well as for the potent role of MPA. Cross-cultural comparative studies were called on to further test the hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Social Development & Social Policy, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, P. R. China. lqluo@mail.ccnu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Liqun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D003463:Cues; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D007179:Incest / Q000523:psychology*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012801:Sibling Relations; D012951:Socialization; D055815:Young Adult