ArticleScientific reports2017
Free mate choice does not influence reproductive success in humans.
Article in Scientific reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Love Components in Free-Choice and Arranged Marriages Among Five Non-Western Populations From Africa, Amazonia, and Himalayas.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Article
- Partner traits of women in arranged and self-choice marriages.Evolutionary human sciences · 2025Article
- Arranged and non-arranged marriages have similar reproductive outcomes in Nepal.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Socioeconomic benefits and limited parent-offspring disagreement in arranged marriages in Nepal.Evolutionary human sciences · 2023Article
- Romantic Love and Reproductive Hormones in Women.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Love Influences Reproductive Success in Humans.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The effect of free mate choice on the relative magnitude of fitness benefits has been examined among various species. The majority of the data show significant fitness benefits of mating with partners of an individual's own choice, highlighting elevated behavioral compatibility between partners with free mate choice. Similarities between humans and other species that benefit from free mate choice led us to hypothesize that it also confers reproductive benefits in Homo sapiens. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a study among three indigenous societies-the Tsimane', Yali, and Bhotiya-who employ natural birth control. In all three samples, we compared the marriages arranged by parents with the non-arranged ones in terms of number of offspring. Here, we show that there were no significant relationships between type of marriage and the total number of alive children and number of dead children among the three sampled groups. The presented study is the first to date to examine the fitness benefits of free mate choice in humans. In discussion we present limitations of our research and discuss the possibility of love having a beneficial influence in terms of the number of offspring.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.