Study links unpredictable childhoods to poorer relationships via increased mating effort

People who grew up in harsher or more unpredictable environments tend to report poorer romantic relationships in adulthood, partly because they invest more effort in seeking new partners. This study was published in Evolutionary Psychology.

Decades of psychological research demonstrates that early family environments shape adult romantic relationships. Individuals exposed to instability, conflict, or economic hardship in childhood are more likely to experience lower relationship satisfaction and higher conflict later in life. These links have traditionally been explained through attachment theory, which focuses on how early interactions with caregivers shape our expectations about closeness, trust, and emotional security in adult partnerships.

Monika Kwiek and colleagues sought to broaden this perspective by integrating attachment theory with life history theory, an evolutionary framework that emphasizes how early environments shape long-term strategies for mating and parenting. While attachment theory centers on emotional bonds, life history theory highlights how people allocate effort toward seeking partners (mating effort) versus investing in children and long-term family life (parenting effort).

The researchers recruited 332 Polish adults (average age of 39), who had children. These participants were recruited through psychology students at Jagiellonian University. This middle-aged Eastern European sample allowed the researchers to test theories that are often examined primarily in North American student populations.

Participants completed a series of questionnaires assessing key aspects of their current romantic relationships, attachment orientations, mating and parenting tendencies, and childhood environments.

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Romantic relationship satisfaction was measured via seven items that captures how well a relationship meets expectations and overall happiness with one’s partner (e.g., “My relationship has met my original expectations”). Relationship conflict was assessed by asking about the frequency and intensity of disagreements, particularly those involving mistrust or emotional reactivity (e.g., “My partner and I often argue because I do not trust him/her”).

Attachment styles were measured along two dimensions, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, reflecting tendencies toward fear of abandonment and discomfort with closeness, respectively (e.g., “I need a lot of reassurance that I am loved by my partner” and “I want to get close to my partner, but I keep pulling back”).

Mating effort was assessed through items capturing competitiveness with peers, flirting, and pursuit of new or unavailable partners, while parenting effort focused on caregiving, emotional support, and investment of resources in children and family life.

The researchers also collected retrospective reports of childhood harshness and unpredictability, such as financial instability, frequent moves, or parental absence, as well as perceptions of neighborhood safety and social cohesion during upbringing. Information about parental education was included as an additional indicator of early socioeconomic context. All measures were translated into Polish using validated procedures.

The results revealed that mating effort was a key pathway linking early environments to adult romantic relationship quality. Individuals who grew up in harsher or more unpredictable conditions reported higher mating effort in adulthood, which was associated with lower relationship satisfaction and greater conflict. These associations held even after accounting for attachment anxiety and avoidance, suggesting that mating effort uniquely contributed to relationship outcomes rather than simply reflecting insecure attachment.

Although early environments were related to later parenting investment, parenting effort itself was not associated with romantic relationship satisfaction or conflict. This suggests that orientations toward caregiving may be shaped by childhood conditions without directly influencing the quality of the romantic partnership, whereas mating-related behaviors appear more closely tied to couple dynamics.

Attachment styles were differentially related to life history dimensions. Higher attachment avoidance, but not attachment anxiety, was associated with lower parenting effort, while neither attachment dimension was meaningfully related to mating effort.

Together, these findings suggest that mating strategies and attachment orientations reflect partly independent pathways through which early experiences shape adult romantic relationships, with mating effort playing a more direct role in relationship satisfaction and conflict.

Of note is that the sample was highly educated and predominantly female, limiting generalizability of findings, and reflecting a common bias in life history research toward populations associated with slower life history strategies.

The study, “Life History, Attachment and Romantic Relationship Outcomes in an Eastern European Adult Sample,” was authored by Monika Kwiek, Daniel J. Kruger, and Przemyslaw Piotrowski.