Using sequence analysis to test if human life histories are coherent strategies.

ABSTRACT: Life history theory, a prominent ecological model in biology, is widely used in the human sciences to make predictions about human behaviour. However, its principal assumptions have not been empirically tested. We address this gap with three research questions: (1) do humans exhibit coherent life history strategies; (2) do individuals adopt strategies along a slow-fast continuum; and (3) are socioeconomic circumstances during childhood associated with the pace of the life history strategy that an individual adopts? Data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study is used to reconstruct the life histories of US women including information on puberty, fertility, menopause and death. We introduce a novel methodological approach to evolutionary anthropology, sequence analysis, to assess if human lif

SUBMITTER: Sheppard P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10427452 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature