Environmental contingency in life history strategies: the influence of mortality and socioeconomic status on reproductive timing.
Why do some people have children early, whereas others delay reproduction? By considering the trade-offs between using one's resources for reproduction versus other tasks, the evolutionary framework of life history theory predicts that reproductive timing should be influenced by mortality and resource scarcity. A series of experiments examined how mortality cues influenced the desire to have children sooner rather than later. The effects of mortality depended critically on whether people grew up in a relatively resource-scarce or resource-plentiful environment. For individuals growing up relatively poor, mortality cues produced a desire to reproduce sooner--to want children now, even at the cost of furthering one's education or career. Conversely, for individuals growing up relatively wealthy, mortality cues produced a desire to delay reproduction--to further one's education or career before starting a family. Overall, mortality cues appear to shift individuals into different life history strategies as a function of childhood socioeconomic status, suggesting important implications for how environmental factors can influence fertility and family size.
Griskevicius
Vladas
V
Marketing Department, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 321 19th Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. vladasg@umn.edu
Delton
Andrew W
AW
Robertson
Theresa E
TE
Tybur
Joshua M
JM
D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003463:Cues; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D012098:Reproduction; D012923:Social Class; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult