The role of reproductive strategies in academic attainment

Since there is a tradeoff between prolonged formal education and early reproduction, education can be construed as a long-term reproductive tactic. This reproductive strategies approach was tested by looking at relationships between sociosexuality (SOI) and parental investment (parental income, number of siblings, parental divorce, number of step siblings, birth intervals, birth order closeness to parents) and GPA of 139 White students at a private college. Parental investment was reduced to three factors (Family Composition, Family Security, and Marital Instability), the last of which was negatively correlated with GPA and positively correlated with SOI. SOI was a much stronger (negative) predictor of GPA in women, but not men, than ACT was. Results support the reproductive strategies approach and imply that prediction of academic difficulty (and gender differences therein) must confront reproductive issues.