Kanazawa, Satoshi (2005) Big and tall parents have more sons: further generalizations of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis. Journal of theoretical biology, 235 (4). pp. 583-590. ISSN 0022-5193
Abstract
This paper proposes the generalized Trivers–Willard hypothesis (gTWH), which suggests that parents who possess any heritable trait which increases male reproductive success at a greater rate than female reproductive success in a given environment will have a higher-than-expected offspring sex ratio, and parents who possess any heritable trait which increases female reproductive success at a greater rate than male reproductive success in a given environment will have a lower-than-expected offspring sex ratio. Since body size (height and weight) is a highly heritable trait which increases male (but not female) reproductive success, the paper hypothesizes that bigger and taller parents have more sons. The analysis of both surviving children and recent pregnancies among respondents of the National Child Development Survey and the British Cohort Survey largely supports the hypothesis.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.elsevier.com/locate/yjtbi |
| Additional Information: | © 2005 Elsevier |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | evolutionary psychology, offspring sex ratio, generalized Trivers–Willard hypothesis (gTWH) |
| Library of Congress subject classification: | Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics |
| Sets: | Research centres and groups > Managerial Economics and Strategy Group Departments > Management |
| Rights: | http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/rights/LSERO.htm |
| URL: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/16170/ |
Actions (login required)
 |
Record administration - authorised staff only |
