The effects of kin on child mortality in rural gambia

Sear, Rebecca; Steele, Fiona; McGregor, Ian A.; Mace, Ruth

doi:10.1353/dem.2002.0010

Cited by 304 publications

(182 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Similar results were observed in Gambian rural areas, where having a living father was not found to significantly affect child survival (Sear et al 2002). This result may perhaps be grounded in the gender-based division of roles within the household.…”

Section: Descriptive Analysissupporting

confidence: 81%

Effects of Parental Union Dissolution on Child Mortality and Child Schooling in Burkina Faso

Thiombiano¹,

Legrand²,

Kobiané³

2013

DemRes

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Section: Descriptive Analysissupporting

confidence: 81%

Effects of Parental Union Dissolution on Child Mortality and Child Schooling in Burkina Faso

Thiombiano¹,

Legrand²,

Kobiané³

2013

DemRes

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“…Our earlier studies suggest that the benefits of grandmothering may occur only when the grandmother is non-reproductive [5], although this trend falls short of statistical significance. However, the reverse effect-that becoming a grandmother has any effect on the older woman's fertility-has not previously been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…Human menopause might be selected for by kin selection favouring older mothers investing in their grandchildren rather than continuing to reproduce themselves [2]. There is now considerable evidence that grandmothers enhance the reproductive success of their offspring (reviewed in Sear & Mace [3]), including evidence from our own study in rural Gambia [4][5][6]. Evidence that maternal grandmothers benefit the survival of their daughter's offspring has been found across a wide range of societies, although kinship norms may influence which residence patterns are most favourable [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Female reproductive competition within families in rural Gambia

Mace

Alvergne

2012

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Many studies show that the extended human family can be helpful in raising offspring, with maternal grandmothers, in particular, improving offspring survival. However, less attention has been given to competition between female kin and co-residents. It has been argued that reproductive conflict between generations explains the evolution of menopause in cooperatively breeding species where females disperse, and that older females are related to the offspring of younger females through their sons, whereas younger, incoming females are unrelated to older females. This means the pattern of help will be asymmetric, so older females lose in reproductive conflict and become 'sterile helpers'. Here, we seek evidence for female reproductive competition using longitudinal demographic data from a rural Gambian population, and examine when women are helping or harming each other's reproductive success. We find that older women benefit and younger women suffer costs of reproductive competition with women in their compound. But the opposite is found for mothers and daughters; if mother and daughter's reproductive spans overlap, the older woman reduces her reproduction if the younger woman (daughter) reproduces, whereas daughters' fertility is unaffected by their mothers' reproduction. Married daughters are not generally co-resident with their mothers, so we find not only competition effects with co-resident females, but also with daughters who have dispersed. Dispersal varies across human societies, but our results suggest reproductive conflict could be influencing reproductive scheduling whatever the dispersal pattern. A cultural norm of late male marriage reduces paternal grandmother/ daughter-in-law reproductive overlap almost to zero in this population. We argue that cultural norms surrounding residence and marriage are themselves cultural adaptations to reduce reproductive conflict between generations in human families.

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“…In previous tests of the grandmother hypothesis, the effect of the PGM is inconsistent, ranging from harmful (Voland & Beise 2002;Ragsdale 2004) to neutral (Griffiths et al 2001;Sear et al 2002;Ladusingh & Singh 2006) to beneficial (Kemkes-Grottenthaler 2005;Sear 2008). Our sex-specific analysis shows that PGMs have a consistent opposite effect on boys and girls: the presence of a PGM increases a girl's likelihood of survivorship, and decreases a boy's (figure 2).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Grandma plays favourites: X-chromosome relatedness and sex-specific childhood mortality

et al. 2009

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Biologists use genetic relatedness between family members to explain the evolution of many behavioural and developmental traits in humans, including altruism, kin investment and longevity. Women's postmenopausal longevity in particular is linked to genetic relatedness between family members. According to the 'grandmother hypothesis', post-menopausal women can increase their genetic contribution to future generations by increasing the survivorship of their grandchildren. While some demographic studies have found evidence for this, others have found little support for it. Here, we re-model the predictions of the grandmother hypothesis by examining the genetic relatedness between grandmothers and grandchildren. We use this new model to re-evaluate the grandmother effect in seven previously studied human populations. Boys and girls differ in the per cent of genes they share with maternal versus paternal grandmothers because of differences in X-chromosome inheritance. Here, we demonstrate a relationship between X-chromosome inheritance and grandchild mortality in the presence of a grandmother. With this sex-specific and X-chromosome approach to interpreting mortality rates, we provide a new perspective on the prevailing theory for the evolution of human female longevity. This approach yields more consistent support for the grandmother hypothesis, and has implications for the study of human evolution.

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The effects of kin on child mortality in rural gambia

Abstract: This is an electronic version of an Article published in Demography, 39 (1). pp. 43-63

Cited by 304 publications

References 51 publications

Effects of Parental Union Dissolution on Child Mortality and Child Schooling in Burkina Faso

Effects of Parental Union Dissolution on Child Mortality and Child Schooling in Burkina Faso

Female reproductive competition within families in rural Gambia

Grandma plays favourites: X-chromosome relatedness and sex-specific childhood mortality

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