Do human ‘life history strategies’ exist?

Abstract

Interest in incorporating life history research from evolutionary biology into the human sciences has grown rapidly in recent years. Two core features of this research have the potential to prove valuable in strengthening theoretical frameworks in the health and social sciences: the idea that there is a fundamental trade-off between reproduction and health; and that environmental influences are important in determining how life histories develop. However, the literature on human life histories has increasingly travelled away from its origins in biology, and become conceptually diverse. For example, there are differences of opinion between evolutionary researchers about the extent to which behavioural traits associate with life history traits to form 'life history strategies'. Here, I review the different approaches to human life histories from evolutionary anthropologists, developmental psychologists and personality psychologists, in order to assess the evidence for human 'life history strategies'. While there is precedent in biology for the argument that some behavioural traits, notably risk-taking behaviour, may be linked in predictable ways with life history traits, there is little theoretical or empirical justification for including a very wide range of behavioural traits in a 'life history strategy'. Given the potential of life history approaches to provide a powerful theoretical framework for understanding human health and behaviour, I then recommend productive ways forward for the field: 1) greater focus on the life history trade-offs which underlie proposed strategies; 2) greater precision when using the language of life history theory and life history strategies; 3) collecting more empirical data, from a diverse range of populations, on linkages between life history traits, behavioural traits and the environment, including the underlying mechanisms which generate these linkages; and 4) greater integration with the social and health sciences.

A Test of the Revised Minkov-Hofstede Model of Culture: Mirror Images of Subjective and Objective Culture across Nations and the 50 US States

“…The term LHS may have somewhat different meanings in biology, from where it originated, and in psychology or the social sciences (Frankenhuis & Nettle, 2020; Sear, 2020). We use it in accordance with the latter tradition.…”

Famine-related mortality in early life and accelerated life histories in nineteenth-century Belgium

“…Recent research suggests that the timing of puberty mediates subsequent reproductive behaviour, including sexual debut and first birth [8,[24][25][26]. Other studies, in contrast, suggest that the clustering of life-history traits into neatly theorized 'strategies' rests on weak empirical ground [27][28][29]. Conscious reproductive decision-making may follow the logic of energy allocation in physical maturation, given evolved psychological mechanisms that track adaptively relevant environmental events.…”

Do perceived control and time orientation mediate the effect of early life adversity on reproductive behaviour and health status? Insights from the European Value Study and the European Social Survey.

“…Ultimately, this pattern would lead to poorer health status later in life and shorter life-expectancy. Interestingly, there may be a notable difference in this pattern between the two sexes (Sear, 2020). For men, poorer health status could be primarily the result of maintenance costs associated with poor health efforts, whereas for women it could additionally be caused by the high metabolic expenditures required by pregnancy and parental care during offspring's early life (Jasienska et al, 2017;Ryan et al, 2018).…”

“…The present study aims to achieve this goal by conducting two sets of large-scale multivariate models testing the mediating role of perceived control (model set 1) and time orientation (model set 2) in the association between early life adversity and a hypothetical trade-off between reproductive (i.e., timing of reproduction, fertility) and maintenance (i.e., health status) traits. Because these traits are expected to cluster differently between females and males (Sear, 2020), model sets will be run separately for individuals of both sexes. Each model set tests two main hypotheses.…”