Abstract
The “reproductive suppression hypothesis” states that the strong desire of adolescent girls in our culture to control their weight may reflect the operation of an adaptive mechanism by which ancestral women controlled the timing of their sexual maturation and hence first reproduction, in response to cues about the probable success of reproduction in the current situation. We develop a model based on this hypothesis and explore its behavior and evolutionary and psychological implications across a range of parameter values. We use the process of model development to identify assumptions implicit in the reproductive suppression hypothesis and variables that need to be measured in order to investigate it more fully. In addition, because costs were probably associated with weight control, an important part of this analysis is the specification of situations in which the benefits of adaptive adjustment of the maturation schedule could have outweighed the costs of achieving that adjustment by slowing adolescent weight gain.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, J. L., C. B. Crawford, J. Nadeau, and T. Lindberg 1992 Was the Duchess of Windsor Right? A Cross-cultural Analysis of Attitudes Toward Fatness in Women.Ethology and Sociobiology 13:197–227.
Bentley, G. R. 1985 Hunter-gatherer Energetics and Fertility: A Reassessment of the !Kung San.Human Ecology 13(1):79–109.
Berkowitz, G. S., and S. V. Kasl 1983 The Role of Psychosocial Factors in Spontaneous Preterm Delivery.Journal of Psychosomatic Research 27(4):283–290.
Bicchieri, M. G., ed. 1972Hunters and Gatherers Today. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Bongaarts, J. 1980 Does Malnutrition Affect Fecundity? A Summary of Evidence.Science 208:564–570.
Borgerhoff Mulder, M. 1989a Early Maturing Kipsigis Women Have Higher Reproductive Success Than Late Maturing Women and Cost More to Marry.Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 24:145–153.
1989b Menarche, Menopause, and Reproduction in the Kipsigis of Kenya.Journal of Biosocial Science 21:179–192.
Brush, G., A. J. Boyce, and G. A. Harrison 1983 Associations between Anthropometric Variables and Reproductive Performance in a Papua New Guinea Highland Population.Annals of Human Biology 10(3):223–234.
Cogan, R., and J. A. Spinnato 1988 Social Support during Premature Labor: Effects on Labor and the Newborn.Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology 8:209–216.
Cohen, M. N. 1989Health and the Rise of Civilization. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Condit, V. K. 1991 Anorexia Nervosa: Levels of Causation.Human Nature 1:391–414.
Crisp, A. H., L. K. G. Hsu, B. Harding, and J. Hartshorn 1980 Clinical Features of Anorexia Nervosa.Journal of Psychosomatic Research 24:179–191.
Davids, A., S. DeVault, and M. Talmadge 1961 Anxiety, Pregnancy, and Childbirth Abnormalities.Journal of Consulting Psychology 25:(1):74–77.
Dixon, R. B. 1971 Explaining Cross-cultural Variations in Age at Marriage and Proportions Never Marrying.Population Studies 25:215–233.
Ellison, P. T. 1982 Skeletal Growth, Fatness, and Menarcheal Age: A Comparison of Two Hypotheses.Human Biology 54:269–281.
Engstrom, G., A. F. Geijerstam, N. G. Holmberg, and K. Uhrus 1964 A Prospective Study of the Relationship between Psycho-social Factors and Course of Pregnancy and Delivery.Journal of Psychosomatic Research 8:151–155.
Eveleth, P. B. 1985 Nutritional Implications of Differences in Adolescent Growth and Maturation and in Adult Body Size. InNutritional Adaptation in Man, K. Blaxter and J. C. Waterlow, eds. Pp. 31–44. London: Libbey.
Ferreira, A. J. 1965 Emotional Factors in Prenatal Environment.Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 141:108–118.
Fisher, R. A. 1930The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Oxford: Clarendon.
Frisancho, A. R., J. Sanchez, D. Pallardel, and L. Yanez 1973 Adaptive Significance of Small Body Size under Poor Socio-economic Conditions in Southern Peru.American Journal of Physical Anthropology 39:255–262.
Frisch, R. E. 1978 Population, Food Intake, and Fertility.Science 199:22–30.
1985 Fatness, Menarche, and Female Fertility.Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 28:611–633.
1990 Body Fat, Menarche, Fitness, and Fertility. InAdipose Tissue and Reproduction, R. E. Frisch, ed. Pp. 1–26. Basel: Karger.
Frisch, R. E., and J. W. McArthur 1974 Menstrual Cycles: Fatness as a Determinant of Minimum Weight Necessary for their Maintenance or Onset.Science 185:949–951.
Frisch, R. E., and R. Revelle 1971 Height and Weight at Menarche and a Hypothesis of Menarche.Archives of Disease in Childhood 46:695–701.
Frisch, R. E., A. von Gotz-Welbergen, J. W. McArthur, T. Albright, J. Witschi, B. Bullen, J. Birnholz, R. B. Reed, and H. Hermann 1981 Delayed Menarche and Amenorrhea of College Athletes in Relation to Age of Onset of Training.Journal of the American Medical Association 246:1559–1563.
Garfinkel, P. E., and D. M. Garner 1982Anorexia Nervosa: A Multidimensional Perspective. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Grimm, E. R. 1961 Psychological Tension in Pregnancy.Psychosomatic Medicine 23(6):520–527.
1962 Psychological Investigation of Habitual Abortion.Psychosomatic Medicine 24:369–378.
Hardy, J. B., D. W. Welcher, J. Stanley, and J. R. Dallas 1978 Long-range Outcome of Adolescent Pregnancy.Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology 21:1215–1232.
Hasher, L., and R. T. Zacks 1984 Automatic Processing of Fundamental Information.American Psychologist 39(12):1372–1388.
Hetzel, B. S., B. Bruer, and L. O. S. Poidevin 1961 A Survey of the Relation between Certain Common Antenatal Complications in Primiparae and Stressful Life Situations during Pregnancy.Journal of Psychosomatic Research 5:175–182.
Howell, N. 1979Demography of the Dobe !Kung. New York: Academic Press.
Hrdy, S. B. 1981The Woman That Never Evolved. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Jelliffe, D. B. 1966The Assessment of the Nutritional Status of the Community. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Johansson, S. R. J. 1987 Neglect, Abuse, and Avoidable Death: Parental Investment and the Mortality of Infants and Children in European Tradition. InChild Abuse and Neglect: Biosocial Dimensions, R. J. Gelles and J. B. Lancaster, eds. Pp. 57–96. Hawthorne, New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Johnson, P. L. 1981 When Dying is Better than Living: Female Suicide among the Gainj of Papua New Guinea.Ethnology 20:325–335.
Kennell, J., M. Klaus, S. McGrath, S. Robertson, and C. Hinkley 1988 Medical Intervention: The Effect of Social Support during Labor (abstract).Pediatric Research 23(4):211A.
Keyfitz, N. 1985Applied Mathematical Demography. New York: Wiley.
Keys, A., J. Brozek, A. Henschel, O. Mickelsen, and H. L. Taylor 1950The Biology of Human Starvation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Kitcher, P. 1985Vaulting Ambition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Klaus, M., J. Kennell, S. Robertson, and R. Sosa 1986 Effects of Social Support during Parturition on Maternal-infant Morbidity.British Medical Journal 293:585–587.
Lasker, G. W., and R. Thomas 1976 Relationship between Reproductive Fitness and Anthropometric Dimensions in a Mexican Population.Human Biology 48(4):775–791.
Lee, R. B. 1979The !Kung San: Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Leven, J. S., and R. S. DeFrank 1988 Maternal Stress and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Review of the Psychosocial Literature.Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology 9:3–16.
Martorell, R., H. L. Delgado, V. Valverde, and R. E. Klein 1981 Maternal Stature, Fertility and Infant Mortality.Human Biology 53(3):303–312.
McDonald, R. L. 1965 Personality Characteristics in Patients with Three Obstetric Complications.Psychosomatic Medicine 27:383–390.
Oakley, A. 1985 Social Support in Pregnancy: The Soft Way to Increase Birthweight?Social Science and Medicine 21(11):1259–1268.
Peyser, M. R., D. Ayalon, J. Harell, R. Toaff, and T. Cordova 1973 Stress-Induced Delay of Ovulation.Obstetrics and Gynecology 42(5):667–670.
Pianka, E. R. 1983Evolutionary Ecology. New York: Harper and Row.
Prentice, A. M., and R. G. Whitehead 1987 The Energetics of Human Reproduction. InReproductive Energetics in Mammals, A. S. I. Loudon and P. A. Racey, eds. Pp. 275–304. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Royston, E., and A. D. Lopez 1987 On the Assessment of Maternal Mortality.World Health Statistics Quarterly 40:214–224.
Saksena, D. N., and J. N. Srivastava 1980 Biosocial Correlates of Perinatal Mortality: Experiences of an Indian Hospital.Journal of Biosocial Science 12:69–81.
Scott, E. C., and F. E. Johnston 1982 Critical Fat, Menarche, and the Maintenance of Menstrual Cycles: A Critical Review.Journal of Adolescent Health Care 2:249–260.
1985 Science, Nutrition, Fat, and Policy: Tests of the Critical-Fat Hypothesis.Current Anthropology 26:463–474.
Shapiro, S., E. R. Schlesinger, and R. E. L. Nesbitt 1968Infant, Perinatal, Maternal, and Childhood Mortality in the United States. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Short, R. V. 1976 The Evolution of Human Reproduction.Proceedings of the Royal Society (London) series B 195:3–24.
Sommer, A., and M. S. Loewenstein 1975 Nutritional Status and Mortality: A Prospective Validation of the QUAC Stick.American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 28:187–292.
Sosa, R., J. Kennell, M. Klaus, S. Robertson, and J. Urrutia 1980 The Effects of a Supportive Companion on Perinatal Problems, Length of Labor, and Mother-infant Interaction.New England Journal of Medicine 303:597–600.
Speth, J. D. 1990 Seasonality, Resource Stress, and Food Sharing in So-called “Egalitarian” Foraging Societies.Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 9:148–188.
Stewart, D. 1981 Appendix C: Statistics, Definitions, and Ambiguities. InThe Five Standards of Safe Childbearing, D. Stewart, ed. Pp. 430–454. Marble Hill, Missouri: NAPSAC Reproductions.
Surbey, M. K. 1987 Anorexia Nervosa, Amenorrhea, and Adaptation. InThe Ethology of Psychiatric Populations, J. Feierman, ed.Ethology and Sociobiology 8:47s-61s.
Symons, D. 1979The Evolution of Human Sexuality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thomas, V. 1990 Control of Reproduction in Animal Species with High and Low Body Fat Reserves. InAdipose Tissue and Reproduction, R. E. Frisch, ed. Pp. 27–41. Basel: Karger.
Tooby, J., and L. Cosmides 1989 Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture, Part 1: Theoretical Considerations.Ethology and Sociobiology 10:29–49.
Trivers, R. L. 1972 Parental Investment and Sexual Selection. InSexual Selection and the Descent of Man 1871–1971, B. Campbell, ed. Pp. 136–179. Chicago: Aldine.
Trussell, J., and J. Menken 1978 Early Childbearing and Subsequent Fertility.Family Planning Perspectives 10:209–219.
Voland, E., and R. Voland 1989 Evolutionary Biology and Psychiatry: The Case of Anorexia Nervosa.Ethology and Sociobiology 10:223–240.
Wasser, S. K., and D. P. Barash 1983 Reproductive Suppression among Female Mammals: Implications for Biomedicine and Sexual Selection Theory.Quarterly Review of Biology 58:513–538.
Wasser, S. K., and D. Y. Isenberg 1986 Reproductive Failure among Women: Pathology or Adaptation?Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology 5:153–175.
Whissell-Buechy, D., and C. Wills 1989 Male and Female Correlations for Taster (P.T.C.) Phenotypes and Rate of Adolescent Development.Annals of Human Biology 16:131–146.
Williams, G. C. 1966 Natural Selection, the Costs of Reproduction, and a Refinement of Lack’s Principle.American Naturalist 100:687–690.
Wyshak, G., and R. E. Frisch 1982 Evidence for a Secular Trend in Age of Menarche.New England Journal of Medicine 306:1033–1035.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Anderson, J.L., Crawford, C.B. Modeling costs and benefits of adolescent weight control as a mechanism for reproductive suppression. Human Nature 3, 299–334 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02734054
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02734054