Consilience and Life History Theory: From Reproductive Strategy to Self-Regulation to Antagonistic Attitudes and Behaviors

Abstract

The research described here examines individual differences in Life History (LH) strategy, antagonistic social attitudes/behaviors (e.g., social deviance), and self-regulation in adolescents and young adults from community and university populations. The primary hypotheses were that (1) LH strategy and self-regulation abilities are positively associated, (2) LH strategy and antagonistic attitudes/behaviors are negatively associated, (3) self-regulation mediates the relations between LH strategy and antagonistic attitudes/behaviors, (4) antagonistic attitudes and antagonistic behaviors are positively but moderately associated, (5) and that self-reported self-regulation and neuropsychological test scores of self-regulation correlate positively. The first four predictions were supported; the fifth prediction was not. The current research contributes to our understanding of self-regulation's role within LH strategies and antagonistic attitudes/behaviors. Further, the identified near-orthogonality of neuropsychological test scores and self-report scores of self-regulation ought to be of interest to clinical science.