Big and tall parents have more sons: further generalizations of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis
- PMID:15935175
- DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2005.02.010
Big and tall parents have more sons: further generalizations of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis
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.
Comment in
- Letter to the editors regarding some papers of Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa.Gelman A.Gelman A.J Theor Biol. 2007 Apr 7;245(3):597-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2006.11.005. Epub 2006 Nov 15.J Theor Biol. 2007.PMID:17184794No abstract available.
- Big and tall parents do not have more sons.Denny K.Denny K.J Theor Biol. 2008 Feb 21;250(4):752-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.11.004. Epub 2007 Nov 13.J Theor Biol. 2008.PMID:18068729No abstract available.
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
