No evidence for the generalized Trivers-Willard hypothesis from British and rural Guatemalan data

Pollet, Thomas and Nettle, Daniel (2010) No evidence for the generalized Trivers-Willard hypothesis from British and rural Guatemalan data. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 8 (1). pp. 57-74. ISSN 1789-2082

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Abstract

In a series of recent papers, Kanazawa has extended the Trivers-Willard hypothesis by suggesting that possession of any heritable trait that improves male reproductive success to a greater extent than it does female reproductive success will lead to a male-biased offspring sex ratio (at the individual level). He produces supporting evidence that big and tall parents have more sons than daughters. Here we test this hypothesis using two large datasets from very different populations, one British and one from rural Guatemala. There was no support for Kanazawa's extension of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis in either sample. Maternal marital status was the only predictor of offspring sex ratio but this effect was very small and limited to the British sample. Results are discussed with reference to recent studies of sex-ratio variation in humans.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	anthropometry, generalized Trivers-Willard hypothesis, sex ratio, height, weight
Subjects:	C800 Psychology
Department:	Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User:	Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited:	26 Sep 2017 09:01
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 16:29
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/32040

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