What cousin do you love the most?

mother's or father's side?

[walkman]

first cousin that is. And, decide before reading the article, no cheating. The mods can tell ;)

[telegraph.co.uk...]

[jdMorgan]

Previously published in detail: [amazon.com...] (January 1999)

"Replicating creatures will help relatives if the benefit to the relative, multiplied by the probability that a gene is shared, exceeds the cost to the [helping] animal"

Jim

[edited by: jdMorgan at 5:05 am (utc) on Feb. 28, 2007]

[olwen]

I have no cousins on my mother's side. She was an only child.

[vincevincevince]

Is it not perhaps the case that the mother is more likely to have kept close with her family, and the child is therefore more familiar with the maternal cousins?

[walkman]

>> Is it not perhaps the case that the mother is more likely to have kept close with her family, and the child is therefore more familiar with the maternal cousins?

soooooooooo many other things to the gene thing so probably not. Plus, usually brothers live near by, mom goes far away to her husband's house.

[bettye51]

I am closer to more of my cousins on my mother's side. I beleive it is because women are more likely to remain close to their siblings than men. Although we lived much closer to my father's brothers...

[jatar_k]

I wonder if they took into account things like

sibling order

both my parents are the oldest but my cousins on my Mom's side are much closer in age to me

3 yrs between my Mom and her brother, where as my Dad is 17 yrs older than his youngest brother, who is only 9 yrs older than me

I am probably closer to my Aunts and Uncles than I am to any cousins

also if the sisters of you parents are much farther in age then it could change things

age of participants compared to the ages of the cousins they say they're closest with would also be interesting, I am closer to my brother and sisters in age than most of my cousins, makes being close with them hard until they are much older since I am off doing other things while they are around

proximity would also be a factor, as was mentioned it may still go one way

without looking at all the data on each participant it makes the study junk, there are so many individual factors that it makes the results a generalization as opposed to any real finding

[walkman]

jatar,
that matters in one case, but when you interview many people, those variables tend to even out. Plus, they're not saying 100% of them thought this way, just enough to be statistically significant.

[jatar_k]

but if all of them have no uncles then it would change things, or if the majority had more aunts than uncles, more cousins on the mother's side etc

a heavy tendency towards people who would be more likely to trend this way would skew the results

always need to see the set

you can create a study to show whatever you want if one so desires. Random selection can be very well planned sometimes.

Maybe I just naturally think people's methods are somewhat suspect and self serving. ;)

[mcavic]

I can't read the article because there's a big ad floating over it.

[Lilliabeth]

My mom has 3 sons and 1 daughter (me). My brothers are more likely to attend events and holidays at their wives' parents' homes while I spend more time at Mom's.

The old saying goes...

A son is yours until he's wed
A daughter is yours until you're dead.

It is genetic - genetic that men don't care where they spend Thanksgiving so they end up spending it where the wife wants to be.

[walkman]

jatar,
they do control for these things. That's what they for a living. No one will publish their paper, hire or fund them unless they follow certain standard guidelines.

Now is they fudged the numbers on purpose...I don't know.

[jatar_k]

hehe, I know walkman :)

always interesting to see who funds a study ultimately

maybe this was funded by the "Mothers against Fathers Foundation" hehe ;)

[dauction]

Is this a Hillbilly Question?

[jatar_k]

maybe mother's side cousins are better looking? ;)

[bettye51]

I am aquainted with a married couple who are first cousins-his father and her mother were siblings. That kinda skews things abit for the study. hehe

[percentages]

The article is total nonsense IMHO.

The relationship you have to your cousins primarily depends upon your parents view.

Either parent could be proactive in encouraging you to seek out relationships with cousins, but, I suspect the male is more likely to do this!

Males generally want to "continue the family name".....females lose some of the family ties when they marry, males do not!

Females are more ready to buy into a new family than males are.

Men bond differently to females. Male bonds tend to be based upon trust and history, very strongly family orientated!

[jecasc]

I have 18 cousins (if I counted correctly). Hard to tell which I like most. But in general I have better relations with those from my fathers side.