Scientific study of polygamists

[nathan]

A Comparison of Sexual Function, Psychological Status, and Sociodemographic Characteristics of Turkish Men within Polygamous and Monogamous Marriages - PMC (nih.gov)

Thanks to @JonB for finding this. Interesting in being a science study only, no judgement. I hope they do the suggested followup studies.
Most interesting to me was the 63% of polygamists who "wouldn't recommend it" to others. I wonder what the real motive there was?

 

[FollowingHim]

Our results showed that polygamous men had higher erectile function and lower depression scores than monogamous men. Further studies investigating the effects of polygamy on men’s psychosexual function are warranted.

There is no attempt to separate cause and effect. It is quite possible, in fact likely, that men with higher erectile function and lower depression are more likely to seek a second wife. The polygamy itself may not have helped these. Or it may have - this is not explored.

Love, cited as one of the reasons for marriage, was ranked second by polygamous men. The most frequent reason given by these men for multiple marriages was their sex drive.
...
Although our study revealed that polygamous men had lower depression scores, interestingly, 62.9% of these men responded negatively to the question “Would you recommend polygamous marriage to other men?”

Again, no attempt to explore cause and effect. Did the polygamous men actually succeed in achieving the goal they were aiming at by marrying a second wife? Most commonly, they married a second wife in order to get more / better sex. Did they actually get more / better sex? Maybe some would not recommend it because it didn't work.

On the other hand, maybe some would not recommend it because they see themselves as exceptional and able to pull it off, and think most other men would fail and shouldn't try. So, it did work for them, but they think it wouldn't for others.

 

[NickF]

I’m not a polygamist and I don’t exactly recommend it to others lol

 

[The Revolting Man]

Almost every Marine I’ve ever known tries to discourage young men from joining the Corps, mostly I think because they don’t want to think average men can become Marines.

I imagine some thing similar is going on with the findings of this torrid bodice ripper.

 

[paterfamilias]

I would really like it if the study had addressed the number of children per wife in mono vs plyg

Hard to make the claims about other cultures definitively but my vibe is that plyg men are more interested in kids and family broadly and as confirmed in the study a higher functioning libido. One would think that would help to nail down the birth rate question... can polygamy help to save our birth rate crisis?

Unsurprisingly I am on team plyg and love the idea of spending next 70ish years I have left focused on being husband and father. I don't really see thst reflected in people I know or who's writing I encounter online...save for our present company obviously.

I have been having the debate over the question in a different environment and would love to see solid number on the average births for plyg vs mono woman. Certainly going to be tougher in western nations though and the west is one of the worst when it comes to birth collapse.

 

[Bartato]

I would be really interested in seeing a similar study looking only at Christian polygamous men. This being Turkey, I assume they are all Muslim.
Of course the study I want to see will likely never happen since poly is so strongly discouraged in Christendom.

 

[Bartato]

Almost every Marine I’ve ever known tries to discourage young men from joining the Corps, mostly I think because they don’t want to think average men can become Marines.

I imagine some thing similar is going on with the findings of this torrid bodice ripper.

I see your point, but I also know average men that served in the Marine Corps.

 

[Bartato]

I would really like it if the study had addressed the number of children per wife in mono vs plyg

Hard to make the claims about other cultures definitively but my vibe is that plyg men are more interested in kids and family broadly and as confirmed in the study a higher functioning libido. One would think that would help to nail down the birth rate question... can polygamy help to save our birth rate crisis?

Unsurprisingly I am on team plyg and love the idea of spending next 70ish years I have left focused on being husband and father. I don't really see thst reflected in people I know or who's writing I encounter online...save for our present company obviously.

I have been having the debate over the question in a different environment and would love to see solid number on the average births for plyg vs mono woman. Certainly going to be tougher in western nations though and the west is one of the worst when it comes to birth collapse.

I'd bet that the average number of children per woman would drop slightly under poly, but it would vary greatly.

Poly would enable the "leftover" women to marry and have children. It would also encourage abandoned single moms and widows to remarry and have additional children.