Article Inheritance as an instrument of parental control over mating Menelaos Apostolou University of Nicosia, Cyprus Abstract Wealth is often controlled by a society’s male members and as such passes to future gen- erations through the male line. Sons have a strong interest in the wealth they receive from their fathers, which enables the latter to employ inheritance rights so as to manipulate the former’s mating decisions. On this basis, two hypotheses are tested. First, in societies where male offspring enjoy inheritance rights, men are more influential over marriage arrange- ments. Second, as more male-controlled wealth is produced in agropastoral than in hunting and gathering societies, male offspring are more likely to benefit from inheritance rights in the former that in the latter societies. Evidence from the Standard Cross-cultural Sample provides support for both hypotheses. These findings explain partially why sexual selection under male parental choice is stronger in agropastoral than in foraging societies. Keywords inheritance, inheritance rights, male parental choice, mate choice, parental choice, parental control over mating, sexual selection, sexual selection under parental choice Parents and offspring are not genetically identical and as a consequence they do not share identical interests with respect to mate choice (Apostolou, 2007a; Trivers, 1974). This, combined with the trade-off nature of mating, gives rise to parent–offspring conflict (Apostolou, 2007a, 2008a; Buunk, Park, & Dubbs, 2008). More specifically, in exercising mate choice, both parties are constrained by their own value with regard to the value of a mate/in-law they can choose. This is because an individual of a higher mating value is unlikely to settle for someone of a lower mating value (Luo & Klohnen, 2005; Mare, Corresponding author: Menelaos Apostolou, Department of Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, 46 Makedonitissas Avenue, 1700 Nicosia, Cyprus Email: m.apostolou@gmail.com J S P R Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 28(3) 374–382 ª The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0265407510384421 spr.sagepub.com