Size‐dependent reproductive success in Gambian men: Does height or weight matter more?

Sear, Rebecca

doi:10.1080/19485565.2006.9989125

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…These latter two populations are very lean compared with Western populations, as is this Gambian population, and these results raise the possibility that testosterone may show non-linear relationships with BMI or fat mass, with both men of low and high weight having lower testosterone than those of moderate weight or fat mass. These testosterone results also fit with a previous study in this population demonstrating that BMI is positively associated with both adult mortality and reproductive success (number of marriages, number of children and number of surviving children), whereas height was correlated with neither (Sear 2006).…”

Section: Testosterone Age Health and Wealthsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The mean height of men was 170.9cm (standard deviation 6.6) and the mean BMI was 21.7 (standard deviation 3.7). This compares to a mean height of 168cm and mean BMI 20.4 for adult men in this population between 1950-1980 (Sear 2006), suggesting recent modest improvements in general health. Tricep skinfolds were lowest in unmarried men and highest in polygynously married men.…”

Section: Descriptive Summary By Marital and Fatherhood Statusmentioning

confidence: 72%

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Marital Status and Sleeping Arrangements Predict Salivary Testosterone Levels in Rural Gambian Men

Lawson

Mora

Cooper

et al. 2017

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

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Variation in male testosterone has been hypothesized to reflect the evolved hormonal regulation of investment in mating versus parenting effort. Supporting this hypothesis, numerous studies have observed lower testosterone in married men and fathers compared with unpartnered and childless men, consistent with relatively elevated resource allocation to parenting as opposed to mating effort. Furthermore, lower testosterone has been reported among fathers more actively engaged in direct caregiving. However, it remains unclear whether these findings generalize cross-culturally. Most studies have been conducted in relatively urban, affluent, and low fertility settings where marriage is predominantly monogamous. We contribute new data on testosterone variation in 100 rural Gambian men from a polygynous, high fertility population, where cultural norms dictate that marriage and fatherhood occur in close succession. Married men (almost exclusively fathers) had lower average morning salivary testosterone than unmarried men (almost exclusively childless). This difference, however, could not be statistically differentiated from declines in testosterone observed with age. Independently of age differences and other potential confounds, we find that (i) among married men, polygynously married men had higher afternoon testosterone than monogamously married men; and (ii) fathers who sleep in the same room as their children had lower morning and afternoon testosterone than those who sleep apart from their children. We also document that body mass index was positively associated with afternoon testosterone. These findings, from a novel setting, provide additional support for the hypothesis that testosterone regulates human paternal care.

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Section: Testosterone Age Health and Wealthsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Descriptive Summary By Marital and Fatherhood Statusmentioning

confidence: 72%

Marital Status and Sleeping Arrangements Predict Salivary Testosterone Levels in Rural Gambian Men

Lawson

Mora

Cooper

et al. 2017

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

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“…Setting B = F w, where F is fertility and w is the proportion of married women 1 , and assuming that F and D are constant in this interval of heights [10], we conclude that w depends on x. This conclusion is in agreement with statistical data that the probability of marriage and having children depends on height [10], [30], [32]. Even a weak dependence of the proportion of married women on height can change the sign of the coefficient B − D − λ, which is necessary for the existence of the bell shape distributions.…”

Section: Models Of Reproductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Branching and aggregation in self-reproducing systems

Volpert

2014

ESAIM: Proc.

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Self-reproducing systems (SRS) represent ensemble of objects (or individuals) which can produce other objects similar to themselves. If they compete with each other for resources, then they can form aggregates (or clusters) instead of a uniform distribution. New aggregates can split from the previous ones. In terms of biological populations, the aggregates correspond to biological species, and emergence of new aggregates to the process of speciation. Other examples of SRS will also be discussed. Résumé. Les systèmes auto-reproductibles représentent des ensembles d'objets (ou d'individus) qui peuvent produire des objets similairesà eux-même. S'ils sont en compétition pour les ressources, alors ils peuvent former des agrégats (ou clusters)à la place des ditributions uniformes. Les nouveaux agrégats peuvent se séparer de ceux qui existent déjà. Pour les populations biologiques, les agrégats correspondent aux espèces et l'émergences de nouveaux agregats au processus de spéciation. Nous allons discuter les mécanismes qui régissent ces processus et quelques autres exemples.

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“…For example, in Namibia, taller men of the !Kung tend to have more surviving offspring than their shorter counterparts (Kirchengast, 2000); however, studies of rural and urban Namibian males around Rundu found that taller males in rural areas have more offspring but that taller males from urban areas have fewer offspring (Kirchengast & Winkler, 1995). Questions about the universality of male height preferences have been raised in light of findings that taller men were not found to have higher reproductive success in Gambia (Sear, 2006a). In the light of the findings of this article it is worth noting that GII values for Gambia were excessively high (0.742), indicating that females suffer from extreme inequality and impaired mate selection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Global Variance in Female Population Height: The Influence of Education, Income, Human Development, Life Expectancy, Mortality and Gender Inequality in 96 Nations

Mark

2013

J. Biosoc. Sci.

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Human height is a heritable trait that is known to be influenced by environmental factors and general standard of living. Individual and population stature is correlated with health, education and economic achievement. Strong sexual selection pressures for stature have been observed in multiple diverse populations, however; there is significant global variance in gender equality and prohibitions on female mate selection. This paper explores the contribution of general standard of living and gender inequality to the variance in global female population heights. Female population heights of 96 nations were culled from previously published sources and public access databases. Factor analysis with United Nations international data on education rates, life expectancy, incomes, maternal and childhood mortality rates, ratios of gender participation in education and politics, the Human Development Index (HDI) and the Gender Inequality Index (GII) was run. Results indicate that population heights vary more closely with gender inequality than with population health, income or education.

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Size‐dependent reproductive success in Gambian men: Does height or weight matter more?

Cited by 11 publications

References 45 publications

Marital Status and Sleeping Arrangements Predict Salivary Testosterone Levels in Rural Gambian Men

Marital Status and Sleeping Arrangements Predict Salivary Testosterone Levels in Rural Gambian Men

Branching and aggregation in self-reproducing systems

Global Variance in Female Population Height: The Influence of Education, Income, Human Development, Life Expectancy, Mortality and Gender Inequality in 96 Nations

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