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Effect of household structure on female reproductive strategies in a Caribbean village

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Abstract

Household structure may have strong effects on reproduction. This study uses household demographic data for 59 women in a Caribbean village to test evolutionary hypotheses concerning variation in reproductive strategies. Father-absence during childhood, current household composition, and household economic status are predicted to influence age at first birth, number of mates, reproductive success, and pair-bond stability. Criterion variables did not associate in a manner indicative of r- and K-strategies. Father-absence in early childhood had little influence on subsequent reproduction. Household wealth and alloparenting were positively associated with age at first birth. Alloparenting was negatively associated with reproductive success. Women in long-term conjugal unions had higher reproductive success than did single women. Number of adult male kin resident in the household was negatively associated with women’s number of mates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Missouriour, Columbia

    Robert J. Quinlan

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  1. Robert J. Quinlan
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Correspondence to Robert J. Quinlan.

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This research was funded by NSF grants (BNS 8920569 and SBR 9205373) to Mark Flinn and an Earthwatch Center for Field Research grant to Mark Flinn, Robert Quinlan, and Marsha Quinlan.

Robert Quinlan is currently an assistant researcher at the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai’i. He has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Missouri. His research interests include human evolutionary ecology, household demography, and biomedical anthropology.

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Quinlan, R.J. Effect of household structure on female reproductive strategies in a Caribbean village. Hum Nat 12, 169–189 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-001-1005-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-001-1005-y

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