Do human parents face a quantity-quality tradeoff?: Evidence from a Shuar community

A number of evolutionary theories of human life history assume a quantity‐quality tradeoff for offspring production: parents with fewer offspring can have higher biological fitness than those with more. Direct evidence for such a tradeoff, however, is mixed. We tested this assumption in a community...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of physical anthropology 2006-07, Vol.130 (3), p.405-418
Main Authors: Hagen, Edward H., Barrett, H. Clark, Price, Michael E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anthropometry
Biological anthropology
Body Height
Body Weight
Child
Child Development - physiology
Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Ecuador
Evolutionary anthropology
Female
Generalities
growth
Health Status
Humans
life history theory
Linear Models
Male
Models, Biological
Nutrition
Nutritional Status
Organisation and history of research
parental investment theory
Parents
Physical anthropology
Prehistory and protohistory
Sex Characteristics
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Summary:A number of evolutionary theories of human life history assume a quantity‐quality tradeoff for offspring production: parents with fewer offspring can have higher biological fitness than those with more. Direct evidence for such a tradeoff, however, is mixed. We tested this assumption in a community of Ecuadorian Shuar hunter‐horticulturalists, using child anthropometry as a proxy for fitness. We measured the impact of household consumer/producer (CP) ratio on height, weight, skinfold thicknesses, and arm and calf circumferences of 85 children and young adults. To control for possible “phenotypic” correlates that might mask the effect of CP ratio on anthropometry, we also measured household garden productivity, wealth, and social status. Regression models of the age‐standardized variables indicated a significant negative impact of CP ratio on child growth and nutrition. The age‐standardized height and weight of children in households with the largest CP ratio (10) were 1.38 and 1.44 standard deviations, respectively, below those of children in households with the smallest CP ratio (2). Surprisingly, garden productivity, wealth, and status had little to no effect on the fitness proxies. There was, however, an interesting and unexpected interaction between status and sex: for females, but not males, higher father status correlated significantly with higher values on the proxies. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ISSN:0002-9483
1096-8644
DOI:10.1002/ajpa.20272