scholarly journals Why do women stop reproducing before menopause? A life-history approach to age at last birth

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1692) ◽  
pp. 20150147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary C. Towner ◽  
Ilona Nenko ◽  
Savannah E. Walton
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
Age At Menopause ◽  
Human Reproductive ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Post Menopausal ◽  
Sample Age

Evolutionary biologists have long considered menopause to be a fundamental puzzle in understanding human fertility behaviour, as post-menopausal women are no longer physiologically capable of direct reproduction. Menopause typically occurs between 45 and 55 years of age, but across cultures and history, women often stop reproducing many years before menopause. Unlike age at first reproduction or even birth spacing, a woman nearing the end of her reproductive cycle is able to reflect upon the offspring she already has—their numbers and phenotypic qualities, including sexes. This paper reviews demographic data on age at last birth both across and within societies, and also presents a case study of age at last birth in rural Bangladeshi women. In this Bangladeshi sample, age at last birth preceded age at menopause by an average of 11 years, with marked variation around that mean, even during a period of high fertility. Moreover, age at last birth was not strongly related to age at menopause. Our literature review and case study provide evidence that stopping behaviour needs to be more closely examined as an important part of human reproductive strategies and life-history theory. Menopause may be a final marker of permanent reproductive cessation, but it is only one piece of the evolutionary puzzle.

The effect of childhood unpredictability on co-parenting relationships during the transition to parenthood: A life history approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 2438-2458
Author(s):  
Ohad Szepsenwol
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Parental Behaviors ◽  
Childhood Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Environmental Unpredictability ◽  
History Approach

Recent extensions to life history theory posit that exposure to environmental unpredictability during childhood should forecast negative parental behaviors in adulthood. In the current research, this logic was extended to co-parental behaviors, which refer to how parents coordinate, share responsibility, and support each other’s parental efforts. The effects of early-life unpredictability on individual and dyadic co-parental functioning were examined in a sample of 109 families (two parents and their firstborn child) who were followed longitudinally from before the child’s birth until the age of two. Greater early-life unpredictability (family changes, residential changes, and parents’ occupational changes by age 8) experienced by mothers, but not fathers, predicted more negative co-parental behaviors in triadic observations 6 months post birth, and lower couple-reported co-parenting quality assessed 3, 9, 18, and 24 months post birth. These effects were not explained by parents’ childhood socioeconomic status or current relationship quality. These findings highlight the role of mothers in shaping co-parenting relationships and how these relationships might be influenced by mothers’ early-life experiences.

scholarly journals An integrative evolutionary framework for psychopathology

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice ◽  
John D. Haltigan
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
History Approach ◽  
P Factor ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract The field of psychopathology is in a transformative phase, and is witnessing a renewed surge of interest in theoretical models of mental disorders. While many interesting proposals are competing for attention in the literature, they tend to focus narrowly on the proximate level of analysis and lack a broader understanding of biological function. In this paper, we present an integrative framework for mental disorders built on concepts from life history theory, and describe a taxonomy of mental disorders based on its principles, the fast–slow–defense model (FSD). The FSD integrates psychopathology with normative individual differences in personality and behavior, and allows researchers to draw principled distinctions between broad clusters of disorders, as well as identify functional subtypes within current diagnostic categories. Simulation work demonstrates that the model can explain the large-scale structure of comorbidity, including the apparent emergence of a general “p factor” of psychopathology. A life history approach also provides novel integrative insights into the role of environmental risk/protective factors and the developmental trajectories of various disorders.

scholarly journals The nature and dynamics of world religions: a life-history approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1818) ◽  
pp. 20151593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Baumard ◽  
Coralie Chevallier
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Life Strategy ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Face ◽  
Diffusion Pattern ◽  
History Approach

In contrast with tribal and archaic religions, world religions are characterized by a unique emphasis on extended prosociality, restricted sociosexuality, delayed gratification and the belief that these specific behaviours are sanctioned by some kind of supernatural justice. Here, we draw on recent advances in life history theory to explain this pattern of seemingly unrelated features. Life history theory examines how organisms adaptively allocate resources in the face of trade-offs between different life-goals (e.g. growth versus reproduction, exploitation versus exploration) . In particular, recent studies have shown that individuals, including humans, adjust their life strategy to the environment through phenotypic plasticity: in a harsh environment, organisms tend to adopt a ‘fast' strategy, pursuing smaller but more certain benefits, while in more affluent environments, organisms tend to develop a ‘slow' strategy, aiming for larger but less certain benefits. Reviewing a range of recent research, we show that world religions are associated with a form of ‘slow' strategy. This framework explains both the promotion of ‘slow' behaviours such as altruism, self-regulation and monogamy in modern world religions, and the condemnation of ‘fast' behaviours such as selfishness, conspicuous sexuality and materialism. This ecological approach also explains the diffusion pattern of world religions: why they emerged late in human history (500–300 BCE), why they are currently in decline in the most affluent societies and why they persist in some places despite this overall decline.

scholarly journals Reproductive ecology of short and long-term mating: implications for sexual selection and life history theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janko Mileta Međedović
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Reproductive Ecology ◽  
Mating Patterns ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Human Reproductive

Mating patterns are crucial for understanding selection regimes in current populations and highly implicative for sexual selection and life history theory. However, empirical data on the relations between mating and fitness-related outcomes in contemporary humans are lacking. In the present research we examined the sexual selection on mating (with an emphasis on Bateman’s third parameter – the association between mating and reproductive success) and life history dynamics of mating by examining the relations between mating patterns and a comprehensive set of variables which determine human reproductive ecology. We conducted two studies (Study 1: N=398, Mage=31.03; Study 2: N=996, Mage=40.81, the sample was representative for participants’ sex, age, region, and settlement size). The findings from these studies were mutually congruent and complementary. In general, the data suggested that short-term mating was unrelated or even negatively related to reproductive success. Conversely, long-term mating was positively associated with reproductive success and there were indices that the beneficial role of long-term mating is more pronounced in males, which is in accordance with Bateman’s third principle. Observed age of first reproduction fully mediated the link between long-term mating and number of children but only in male participants. There were no clear indications of the position of the mating patterns in human life history trajectories; however, the obtained data suggested that long-term mating has some characteristics of fast life history dynamics. Findings are implicative for sexual selection and life history theory in humans.

scholarly journals The co-evolution of human fertility and wealth inheritance strategies

1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1367) ◽  
pp. 389-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Mace
Keyword(s):  
Parental Investment ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Optimal Decision ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
Raising Children ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Future Production ◽  
Human Reproductive ◽  
Living Children

Life history theory concerns the scheduling of births and the level of parental investment in each offspring. In most human societies the inheritance of wealth is an important part of parental investment. Patterns of wealth inheritance and other reproductive decisions, such as family size, would be expected to influence each other. Here I present an adaptive model of human reproductive decision-making, using a state-dependent dynamic model. Two decisions made by parents are considered: when to have another baby, and thus the pattern of reproduction through life; and how to allocate resources between children at the end of the parents life. Optimal decision rules are those that maximize the number of grandchildren. Decisions are assumed to depend on the state of the parent, which is described at any time by two variables: number of living sons, and wealth. The dynamics of the model are based on a traditional African pastoralist system, but it is general enough to approximate to any means of subsistence where an increase in the amount of wealth owned increases the capacity for future production of resources. The model is used to show that, in the unpredictable environment of a traditional pastoralist society, high fertility and a biasing of wealth inheritance to a small number of children are frequently optimal. Most such societies are now undergoing a transition to lower fertility, known as the demographic transition. The effects on fertility and wealth inheritance strategies of reducing mortality risks, reducing the unpredictability of the environment and increasing the costs of raising children are explored. Reducing mortality has little effect on completed family sizes of living children or on the wealth they inherit. Increasing the costs of raising children decreases optimal fertility and increases the inheritance left to each child at each level of wealth, and has the potential to reduce fertility to very low levels. The results offer an explanation for why wealthy families are frequently also those with the smallest number of children in heterogenous, post-transition societies.

REPRODUCTIVE PATTERN OF CUBAN WOMEN LIVING IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF PLAZA DE LA REVOLUCIÓN, HAVANA, CUBA

2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-504
Author(s):  
VANESSA VÁZQUEZ ◽  
ANA M. CAMARGO ◽  
MARLEN ACOSTA ◽  
VERÓNICA ALONSO ◽  
FRANCISCO LUNA
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Data ◽  
Live Birth Rate ◽  
Reproductive Period ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Reproductive Pattern ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
First Union ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
Post Menopausal ◽  
Desired Family Size

SummaryThis paper assesses the reproductive and abortion patterns of women living in Plaza de la Revolución, a municipality of Havana, Cuba, by studying the factors influencing birth and abortion rates. Socio-demographic data and female reproductive histories were collected in a survey of 1200 post-menopausal women living in the municipality. Average ages at menarche and at menopause were 12.71 and 48.39 years, respectively, thus yielding a potential long reproductive period of 35.68 years, indicating high fertility. Although the mean pregnancy rate was 3.81 pregnancies per woman, the live birth rate at time of delivery was only 1.89 due to the high rate of abortions: 40% of all pregnancies were voluntarily interrupted. Among the biological and socio-cultural variables that were found to influence the rate of live births were those related marriage pattern, especially age at first union. Demographic variables such as pregnancy order, maternal age and marital status were the main determinants of the abortion pattern, with abortion being used as a method of birth control in order to obtain the desired family size, and most women (75.2%) using contraceptives.

Discriminating Ecologies: A Life History Approach to Stigma and Health

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Neuberg ◽  
Andreana C. Kenrick
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Causal Pathways ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Causes Of Mortality ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Complementary Set

How does being discriminated against affect one’s health, and through what mechanisms? Most research has focused on two causal pathways, highlighting how discrimination increases psychological stress and exposure to neighborhood hazards. This chapter advances an alternative, complementary set of mechanisms through which stigma and discrimination may shape health. Grounded in evolutionary biology’s life history theory, the framework holds that discrimination alters aspects of the physical and social ecologies in which people live (e.g., sex ratio, unpredictable extrinsic causes of mortality). These discriminating ecologies pull for specific behaviors and physiological responses (e.g., risk-taking, sexual activity, offspring care, fat storage) that are active, strategic, and rational given the threats and opportunities afforded by these ecologies but that also have downstream implications for health. This framework generates a wide range of nuanced insights and unique hypotheses about the discrimination-health relationship, and suggests specific approaches to intervention while pointing to complex ethical issues.

scholarly journals Adolescent fertility and risky environments: a population-level perspective across the lifespan

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1744) ◽  
pp. 4003-4008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlyn D. Placek ◽  
Robert J. Quinlan
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Early Risk ◽  
Human Reproductive ◽  
Adolescent Fertility ◽  
Extrinsic Risk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Current Risk

Timing of first reproduction is a key life-history variable with important implications for global economic development and health. Life-history theory predicts that human reproductive strategies are shaped by mortality regimes. This study provides the first test of the relationship between population-level adolescent fertility (AF) and extrinsic risk at two time points. Data are from United Nations database and were analysed using mediation and moderation techniques. The goals were to determine whether (i) early risk has a stronger impact on fertility than current risk; (ii) current risk mediates the relationship between early risk and fertility outcomes; and (iii) different levels of early risk influence the relationship between current risk and fertility. Results indicated that current risk partially mediated the relationship between early risk and fertility, with early risk having the strongest impact on reproduction. Measures for early and current mortality did not show significant interaction effects. However, a series of separate regression analyses using a quantile split of early risk indicated that high levels of early risk strengthened the relationship between current risk and AF. Overall, these findings demonstrate that reproductive strategies are significantly influenced by fluctuations of early mortality as well as current environmental cues of harshness.

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