Young children exhibit sex-biased strategies to obtain resources

Mammalian males’ strategies for obtaining resources have been well-established and typically depend on direct contests that produce hierarchies. Although less well-documented, current evidence suggests that in female philopatric communities, females engage in contests often with coalition partners who are typically female kin. When kin are not present however, females of similar age appear more egalitarian and tend to avoid contests. To examine whether phylogenetically similar sex-biased strategies to obtain valuable resources occur in humans, we held a contest for 50 pairs of unrelated, familiar 3-7-year-old children from diverse backgrounds. We show that the majority of female pairs spontaneously approached the resources side-by-side then briefly competed to obtain the resources. In marked contrast, in over half of the male pairs one male deferred to his partner who then gained unimpeded access to the most valuable resource. Sex-differentiated strategies however appeared only with sam..., , # Young children exhibit sex-biased strategies to obtain resources

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.h44j0zpz5](10.5061/dryad.h44j0zpz5)

## Description of the data and file structure

100 pairs of children engaged in a contest to obtain stickers in pairs: 18 female-female pairs, 16 female-male pairs, 16 male-male pairs. Type of approaches to the sticker box (equality, hierarchy, contest) and whether a contest occurred after arrival at the sticker box were coded.

Joyce Benenson

[[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

### Files and variables

#### **Datawide_December_2_2025.csv**

The purpose of this data file to examine whether the sex composition of the pair influenced the type of approach used by the pair, and then whether the type of approach used by the pair influenced time differences in leaving the starting line, velocity of the faster child and whether a contest occurred at the sticker box. Covariates included were mean age of the pair, SES of the school, differ..., All data are listed by subject number. No schools are identified.