How does childhood socioeconomic hardship affect reproductive strategy? Pathways of development.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

In high-income populations, evidence suggests that socioeconomic disadvantage early in life is correlated with reproductive strategy. Children growing up in unfavorable rearing environments tend to experience earlier sexual maturity and first births. Earlier first births may be associated with higher fertility, but links between socioeconomic disadvantage and larger family size have rarely been tested. The pathways through which early disadvantage influences reproduction are unknown. We test whether physiological factors link childhood adversity to age at first birth and total children.

Methods

Using data from the Newcastle Thousand Families Study, a 1947 British birth cohort, we developed path models to identify possible physiological traits linking childhood soc

SUBMITTER: Sheppard P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4949535 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature