title: Hand asymmetry does not relate to key life history traits in post-menopausal contemporary Finnish women.
abstract: Associations between fluctuating asymmetry (FA, a putative marker of developmental instability, DI) and life history traits have received a great deal of attention in the non-human literature. However, the patterns found are very heterogeneous and generalizations are difficult to make. In humans, only a few studies have related FA to life histories and fitness. In this paper we study such relationships using hand FA and several key life history traits in 209 post-menopausal Finnish women born between 1946 and 1958. Asymmetry measurements were based on scans of the hands and the life histories of these women were collected using questionnaires. No significant associations were detected and trends were opposite to expectations. We did find evidence for directional asymmetry, as traits in the right hand were larger on average. This may be due to handedness, questioning the usefulness of hand FA as a measure of DI. We conclude that future studies in humans should carefully examine the usefulness of traits as measures of DI.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Ecology Group, Biology Department, Antwerp University, Antwerp, Belgium. stefan.vandongen@ua.ac.be
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van Dongen
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sprengers
authors.forename: Samuli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Helle
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008572:Menarche; D008875:Middle Aged; D010298:Parity; D017698:Postmenopause; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires