Abstract: Previous studies showed that Childhood maltreatment is closely correlated with negative psychological and behavioral outcomes. However, why adult human harm their children? Maybe， evolutionary psychology could offer a reasonable explanation. Human fertilization occurs internal within females, and females are nearly 100 percent assured of their genetic contribution to their own offspring. However, males face fierce competition in mating, and that their mates may mate with other males before or after the marriage. Thus, males are never fully certain that their putative children are their biological offspring, males are face with the risk of paternal uncertainty and they unconsciously seek indirect and direct cues to assess their paternity. A male’s perception of facial resemblance between himself and his offspring is one direct cue for identifying whether he has a blood relationship with his offspring. Previous studies showed that the more similar the facial characteristics between fathers and their children are, the more resources males invest in their offspring; and the greater investment made by a male in his mate (an indirect investment in offspring), the lower rate of domestic violence. Nevertheless, human behaviors are not only influenced by evolutionary mechanisms but also by social and cultural contexts. In the context of Chinese culture, traditional views hold that males, but not females, are supposed to carry on the family line and take the responsibility of helping aging parents and providing proper burial. Thus, we argue that patriarchal culture in China will enhance the relationship between father-son facial resemblance and child abuse, while suppressing the same relationship between fathers and daughters. This study recruited 212 high school students as participants (87 boys, 125 girls, the average age was 15.94 years, SD = 0.56 years), and measured perceived father-child facial resemblance, the child abuse, and demographic variables to explore the effect of parent?child facial resemblance on the child abuse in a traditional patriarchal cultural context in China. This study found that (a) perceived father-child facial resemblance significantly affected father’s mental abuse; (b) child’s gender further moderated the effect of perceived father-child facial resemblance on father’s mental abuse, when offspring were boys, the effect of perceived father-child facial resemblance on father’s mental abuse was significant, however, when offspring were girls, the effect was not significant. Those results demonstrated that offspring’s gender moderated the relationship between perceived parent-child facial resemblance and child abuse, which not only supported but also enriched the theory of paternal uncertainty. The limitation and further research were discussed.

Key words: Perceived Father-child Facial Resemblance, Child Abuse, Gender, Traditional Patriarchal View

摘要： 由于体内受精，父亲面临着父亲身份不确定性的风险，亲子间面孔相似性是辨别父亲身份的一个常用的有效线索，因此，父亲往往依据亲子间面孔相似性程度调整着亲子投资。而中国传统文化强调重男轻女，因此，父子间面孔相似性比父女间面孔相似性对父亲的亲子投资的预测效应更强。本研究采用自我报告的方法测量了212名中学生感知到亲子间面孔相似性、亲子虐待以及人口学变量。结果表明:（1）感知到的亲子间面孔相似性与亲子虐待中的精神虐待存在显著的相关，与身体虐待的相关没有达到显著水平；（2）父母的性别显著地调节着感知到亲子间面孔相似性对精神虐待的预测，具体而言， 父子（女）间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲的精神虐待，而母子（女）间面孔相似性对母亲精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平；（3）进一步的分析表明，子女的性别显著地调节着感知到父子（女）间面孔相似性对父亲精神虐待的影响，具体而言，父子间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲对儿子的精神虐待，但父女间面孔相似性对父亲对女儿的精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平。研究结果支持并拓展了父亲身份不确定性假设。

关键词: 感知到亲子间面孔相似性, 亲子虐待, 性别, 重男轻女