Evaluating grandmother effects

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2745839/
Update Item Information
Links to Media http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2745839/
Publication Type journal article
Creator Hawkes, Kristen
Other Author Smith, Ken R.
Title Evaluating grandmother effects
Date 2009-01-01
Description Women who have outlived child-bearing have long been described as post-reproductive. But contributions they make to the survival or fertility of their descendants enhance the reproduction of their genes. Consequently natural selection affects this characteristic stage of human life history. Grandmother effects can be measured in data sets that include births and deaths over several generations, but unmeasured covariates complicate the task. Here we focus on two complications: cohort shifts in mortality and fertility, and maternal age at death. We use the Utah Population Database to show that longevity of grandmothers may be associated with fewer grandchildren, as reported by Madrigal and Melendez-Obando (2008) for a Costa Rican sample, even when grandmother effects are actually positive.
Type InteractiveResource
Publisher Wiley-Blackwell
Journal Title American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Volume 140
Issue 1
First Page 173
Last Page 176
DOI 10.1002/ajpa.21061
Subject Human life history; Historical demography; Human longevity
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Hawkes, K., & Smith, K. R. (2009). Brief communication evaluating grandmother effects. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 140(1), 173-6.
Rights Management (c) Wiley-Blackwell The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com ; This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Hawkes, K., & Smith, K. R. (2009). Brief communication evaluating grandmother effects. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 140(1), 173-6, which has been published in final form at DOI 10.1002/ajpa.21061.
Format Medium application/html
Identifier uspace, 19333
ARK ark:/87278/s6905cwd
Setname ir_uspace
ID 712887
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6905cwd