Maternal Competition in Women.

We examined maternal competition, an unexplored form of competition between women. Given women's high investment in offspring and mothers' key role in shaping their reproductive, social, and cultural success as adults, we might expect to see maternal competition between women as well as mate competition. Predictions about the effect of maternal characteristics (age, relationship status, educational background, number of children, investment in the mothering role) and child variables (age, sex) were drawn from evolutionary theory and sociological research.