Ontogeny of sexual size dimorphism and environmental quality in Guatemalan children

Nikitovic, Dejana; Bogin, Barry

doi:10.1002/ajhb.22492

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…There is much literature on the value of sex differences in morphology as an indicator environmental quality (Bogin, 1999;C amara, 2015;Nikitovic and Bogin, 2014;Stinson, 1985). Human males grow, on average, larger and mature more slowly than females.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even as measured heights declined by 10 cm between the years 1500 and 1940, the average difference between the sexes remained about equal. Based on that finding, we hypothesized that variation in the There is much literature on the value of sex differences in morphology as an indicator environmental quality (Stinson, 1985;Bogin, 1999;Nikitovic and Bogin, 2014;Cámara, 2015). Human males grow, on average, larger and mature more slowly than females.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Global effects of income and income inequality on adult height and sexual dimorphism in height

Bogin

Scheffler

Hermanussen³

2017

American J Hum Biol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Average adult height of a population is considered a biomarker of the quality of the health environment and economic conditions. The causal relationships between height and income inequality, are not well understood. We analyse data from 169 countries for national average height of men and women and national level economic factors to test the two hypotheses: 1) income inequality has a greater association with average adult height than does absolute income; 2) neither income nor income inequality has an effect on sexual dimorphism in height. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 F o r P e e r R e v i e w 2 include Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Income per capita adjusted for personal purchasing power (GNI_PPP), and income equality assessed by the Gini coefficient calculated by the Wagstaff method. MethodsResults: Hypothesis 1 is supported. Greater income equality is most predictive of average height for both sexes. Greater per capita purchasing power explains a significant, but smaller, amount of the variation. . National GDP has no association with height. Hypothesis 2 is rejected. With greater average adult height there is greater sexual dimorphism. Conclusions:Findings support a growing literature on the pernicious effects of inequality on growth in height and, by extension, on health. Gradients in height reflect gradients in social disadvantage. Inequality should be considered a pollutant that disempowers people from the resources needed for their own healthy growth and development and for the health and good growth of their children. -----------------------------------------This article is derived from the 2016 Human Biology Association Plenary Session titled "Worldwide variation in human growth -40 years later." The title of the symposium is taken from the 1 st and 2 nd editions of books of the same title by PhyllisEveleth and James Tanner (Eveleth & Tanner 1991). Contributions to the symposium were meant to update the topics included in Eveleth and Tanner's books.The purpose of this article is to update and evaluate worldwide variation in economic and social factors that influence the biology of adult height. We analyze national level data for measured heights for the year 1996 of men and women in 169 countries.We conduct the analysis based on two hypotheses: 1) that income inequality has a greater association with average adult height than absolute income, and 2) that sexual dimorphism in adult height remains fairly constant under different conditions of income and income inequality. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 In the present analysis we employ as measures of income the national GDP (to...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global effects of income and income inequality on adult height and sexual dimorphism in height

Bogin

Scheffler

Hermanussen³

2017

American J Hum Biol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Despite the widespread occurrence of this phenomenon in numerous animal taxa, evidence for this in humans is equivocal (Stinson, 1985). Recent studies on sexual dimorphism in physical stature suggest that male growth is more adversely affected by socioeconomic deprivation (Nikitovic & Bogin, 2013). On the other hand, sexual dimorphism in physical stature remained constant over the course of several centuries in Sweden, despite the dramatic improvement in living conditions during the 20 th Century (Gustafsson, Werdelin, Tullberg, & Lindenfors, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic influences on the development of grip strength in adolescence

Isen

Iacono

2014

American J Phys Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Enhanced physical strength is a secondary sex characteristic in males. Sexual dimorphism in physical strength far exceeds sex differences in stature or total body mass, suggesting a legacy of intense sexual selection. Upper-body strength is a particularly promising marker of intra-sexual competitiveness in young men. Consequently, it is assumed that sex-influenced gene expression contributes to the development of physical strength. It is unclear, however, whether the underlying sources of individual differences in strength development are comparable across sex. We obtained three measurements of hand-grip strength (HGS) over a six-year period spanning adolescence in male and female same-sex twins (N= 2,513). Biometrical latent growth models were used to partition the HGS variance at age 11 (intercept) and its growth over time (slope) into genetic and environmental components. Results demonstrated that variance around the intercept was highly heritable in both males and females (88% and 79%, respectively). In males, variance around the slope exceeded that of the intercept, while the reverse held for females. Additive genetic effects accounted for most (80%) of the variance around the slope in males, but were of less importance in females (heritability = 28%). Absolute genetic variance around the slope was nearly nine-fold higher in males. This striking disparity suggests that the developmental processes shaping HGS growth are different between the sexes. We propose that this might account for the sex-specific pattern of associations between HGS and external measures (e.g., digit ratio and physical aggression) typically reported in the literature. Our results underscore the role of endogenous androgenic influences in the development of physical strength.

show abstract

“…Mean stature and body mass were expected to be larger in men than women simply due to genetic and hormonal differences between the sexes [ 87 , 89 , 157 – 158 ]. Thus, the current study investigated change in a ratio of male to female size that expresses the male mean as a percentage of the female mean for a given variable: (male mean / female mean)*100 [ 159 – 160 ]. However, this index does not take sample size or standard deviation into account.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Life Conditions and Physiological Stress following the Transition to Farming in Central/Southeast Europe: Skeletal Growth Impairment and 6000 Years of Gradual Recovery

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Early life conditions play an important role in determining adult body size. In particular, childhood malnutrition and disease can elicit growth delays and affect adult body size if severe or prolonged enough. In the earliest stages of farming, skeletal growth impairment and small adult body size are often documented relative to hunter-gatherer groups, though this pattern is regionally variable. In Central/Southeast Europe, it is unclear how early life stress, growth history, and adult body size were impacted by the introduction of agriculture and ensuing long-term demographic, social, and behavioral change. The current study assesses this impact through the reconstruction and analysis of mean stature, body mass, limb proportion indices, and sexual dimorphism among 407 skeletally mature men and women from foraging and farming populations spanning the Late Mesolithic through Early Medieval periods in Central/Southeast Europe (~7100 calBC to 850 AD). Results document significantly reduced mean stature, body mass, and crural index in Neolithic agriculturalists relative both to Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fishers and to later farming populations. This indication of relative growth impairment in the Neolithic, particularly among women, is supported by existing evidence of high developmental stress, intensive physical activity, and variable access to animal protein in these early agricultural populations. Among subsequent agriculturalists, temporal increases in mean stature, body mass, and crural index were more pronounced among Central European women, driving declines in the magnitude of sexual dimorphism through time. Overall, results suggest that the transition to agriculture in Central/Southeast Europe was challenging for early farming populations, but was followed by gradual amelioration across thousands of years, particularly among Central European women. This sex difference may be indicative, in part, of greater temporal variation in the social status afforded to young girls, in their access to resources during growth, and/or in their health status than was experienced by men.

show abstract

Ontogeny of sexual size dimorphism and environmental quality in Guatemalan children

Abstract: A poor quality environment for growth and development, as estimated by SES, was found to reduce or eliminate statistically significant SSD. Patterns of biological maturation before and after puberty also seem to contribute to age changes in SSD.

Cited by 14 publications

References 27 publications

Global effects of income and income inequality on adult height and sexual dimorphism in height

Global effects of income and income inequality on adult height and sexual dimorphism in height

Genetic influences on the development of grip strength in adolescence

Early Life Conditions and Physiological Stress following the Transition to Farming in Central/Southeast Europe: Skeletal Growth Impairment and 6000 Years of Gradual Recovery

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About