Modern women's reproductive lives vary considerably, in a patterned fashion. Although cultural factors are important, across societies—even across species— there exist strong patterns predicted by life history theory. For example, the shorter life expectancy e0 is at birth, the earlier it pays in biological terms to reproduce. Few factors analyzed in women's life patterns in more than 170 nations influence the divergence. Studies on other species assume that (a) the variation is species specific and (b) the conditions are at equilibrium; the relationship between life expectancy and age at first birth is strong, but varies across populations, and is frequently not at equilibrium. Human patterns, like those of other species, may have ecological or life history underpinnings. The answers we find may have policy implications for women's lives and fertility.
Anderson, B. (2004). Unintended population consequences of policies . Population and Environment, 25(4), 377-390.
2.
Anderson, B.A., Kim, D., & Romani, J.H. (1997). Health personnel, son preference and infant mortality in China (Res. Rep. No. 97-409. Ann Arbor: Population Studies Center, University of Michigan.
3.
Anderson, B.A., & Romani, J.H. (1977). Socioeconomic characteristics and excess female infant mortality in Jilin province, China (Res. Rep. No. 97-409). Ann Arbor: Population Studies Center, University of Michigan.
4.
Becker, G. (1981). A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
5.
Borgerhoff Mulder, M. (1998). The demographic transition: Are we any closer to an evolutionary explanation?Trends in Ecology and Evolution , 13, 266-270.
6.
Chisholm, J.S., Quinlivan, J.A., Petersen, R.W., & Coall, D.A. (2005). Early stress predicts age at menarche and first birth, adult attachment, and expected lifespan. Human Nature16(3), 233-265.
7.
Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1997). Life expectancy, economic inequality, homicide, and reproductive timing in Chicago neighborhoods. British Journal of Medicine, 314, 1271-1274.
8.
Das Gupta, M. (1987). Selective discrimination against female children in rural Punjab, India. Population and Development Review , 13(1), 77-100.
9.
Das Gupta, M., & Visaria, L. (1996). Son preference and excess female mortality in India's demographic transition. In Sex preference for children and gender discrimination in Asia , Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA), Seoul, Korea: KIHASA.
10.
Easterlin, R., & Crimmins, E. (1985). The fertility revolution: A supply-demand analysis . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
11.
Ellis, B.J. (2004). Timing of pubertal maturation in girls: An integrated life history approach. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 920-958.
12.
Flinn, M.V. (1999). Family environment, stress, and health during childhood. In C. Panter-Brick & C. Worthman (Eds.), Hormones, health, and behavior (pp. 105-138). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13.
Geronimus, A.T. (1996a). Black/white differences in the relationship of maternal age to birth-weight: A population-based test of the weathering hypothesis . Social Science & Medicine, 42(4), 589-597.
14.
Geronimus, A.T. (1996b). What teen mothers know. Human Nature, 7(4), 323-352.
15.
Geronimus, A.T. (2001). Inequality in life expectancy, functional status, and active life expectancy across selected Black and White populations in the United States. Demography, 38(2), 227-251.
16.
Geronimus, A.T., Bound, J., & Waidmann, T.A. (1997). Health inequality, family caretaking systems, and population variation in fertility-timing. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Washington, DC.
17.
Geronimus, A.T., Bound, J., Waidmann, T.A., Hillemeier, M.M., & Burns, P.B. (1996). Excess mortality among Blacks and Whites in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 335, 1552-1558.
18.
Harvey, P., & Zammuto, R.M. (1985). Patterns of mortality and age at first reproduction in natural populations of mammals. Nature, 315, 319-320.
19.
Hill, E.M., Ross, L.T., & Low, B. (1997). The role of future unpredictability in human risk-taking . Human Nature, 8(4), 287-325.
20.
Hill, K., & Hurtado, A.M. (1996). Ache life history: The ecology and demography of a foraging people. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
21.
Hitztaler, S. (2004a). Changing human populations in post-Soviet Kamchatka: An integrated study of shifts in fertility and net population. Population and Environment, 25(4), 335-354.
22.
Hitztaler, S. (2004b). The relationship between resources and human migration in central Kamchatka during the post-Soviet period. Population and Environment, 25(4), 355-375.
23.
Kaplan, H., & Lancaster, J. (2000). The evolutionary economics and psychology of the demographic transition to smaller families. In L. Cronk, N. Chagnon, & W. Irons (Eds.), Adaptation and human behavior: An anthropological perspective (pp. 283-322). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
24.
Kaplan, H., Lancaster, J.B., Johnson, S.E., & Bock, J.A. (1995). Fertility and fitness among Albuquerque men: A competitive labour market theory. In R. I. M. Dunbar (Ed.), Human reproductive decisions: Biological and social perspectives (pp. 96-136). London: St. Martin's Press.
25.
Knodel, J., Havanon, N., & Sittitrai, W. (1990). Family size and the education of children in the context of rapid fertility decline. Population and Development Review, 16(1), 31-62.
26.
Low, B. (2005a). Families: An evolutionary ecological approach . In L. R. Jaipaul & P. G. Uwe (Eds.), Families on global perspective (pp. 14-32). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
27.
Low, B. (2005b). Women's lives there, here, then, now: A review of women's ecological and demographic constraints cross-culturally. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, 64-87.
28.
Low, B. (2007). Ecological and sociocultural influences on mating and marriage systems. In R. Dunbar & L. Barrett (Eds.), The oxford handbook of evolutionary psychology (pp. 449-462). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
29.
Low, B.S. (1990). Sex, power, and resources: Ecological and social correlates of sex differences. International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, 27(1-2), 49-74.
30.
Low, B.S. (1992). Toward an ecological demography. Population and Development Review, 18(1), 1-31.
31.
Low, B.S. (2000a). Sex, wealth, and fertility-Old rules, new environments . In L. Cronk, N. A. Chagnon, & W. G. Irons (Eds.), Adaptation and human behavior: An anthropological perspective (pp. 323-344). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
32.
Low, B.S. (2000b). Why sex matters: A Darwinian look at human behavior . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
33.
Low, B.S., Simon, C.P., & Anderson, K.G. (2002). An evolutionary ecological perspective on demographic transitions: Modeling multiple currencies. American Journal of Human Biology, 14, 149-167.
34.
Low, B.S., Simon, C.P., & Anderson, K.G. (2003). The biodemography of modern women: Tradeoffs when resources become limiting. In J. L. Rodgers & H. P. Kohler (Eds.), The biodemography of human reproduction and fertility (pp. 105-134). Boston: Kluwer Academic.
35.
MacArthur, R., & Wilson, E. (1967). The theory of island biogeography. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
36.
Mace, R. (1998). The coevolution of human fertility and wealth inheritance strategies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 353, 389-397.
37.
Mace, R. (2000a). An adaptive model of human reproductive rate where wealth is inherited. In L. Cronk , N. A. Chagnon, & W. G. Irons (Eds.), Adaptation and human behavior: An anthropological perspective (pp. 261-281). Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
38.
Mace, R. (2000b). Evolutionary ecology of human life history. Animal Behaviour, 59, 1-10.
39.
Murdock, G., & White, D. (1969). Standard cross-cultural sample. Ethnology, 8, 329-369.
40.
Murdock, G.P. (1957). World ethnographic sample. American Anthropologist, 59, 195-220.
41.
Murdock, G.P. (1967). Ethnographic atlas. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
42.
Murdock, G.P. (1981). Atlas of world cultures. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
43.
Nepomnaschy, P.A., Welch, K.B., McConnell, D.S., Low, B.S., Strassmann, B.I., & England, B.G. (2006). Cortisol levels and very early pregnancy loss in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences103(10), 3938-3942.
44.
Ranjit, N., Young, E.A., & Kaplan, G.A. (2005). Material hardship alters the diurnal rhythm of salivary cortisol. International Journal of Epidemiology, 34(5), 227-231.
45.
Roff, D. (2002). Life history evolution. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.
46.
Roff, D.A. (1992). The evolution of life histories: Theory and analysis . New York: Chapman and Hall.
47.
Stearns, S.C. (1976). Life-history tactics: A review of the ideas. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 51, 3-47.
48.
Stearns, S.C. (1992). The evolution of life histories. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
49.
Ting, T.F. (2004a). Resources, fertility, and parental investment in Mao's China. Population and Environment, 25(4), 281-297.
50.
Ting, T.F. (2004b). Shifts in reproductive patterns in China. Population and Environment, 25(4), 299-317.
51.
Whyte, M.K. (1979). The status of women in pre-industrial society . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
