Socioeconomic status determines sex-dependent survival of human offspring.
OBJECTIVE
In polygynous societies, rich men have many offspring through the marriage of multiple wives. Evolutionary, rich households would therefore benefit more from sons, and according to the Trivers-Willard hypothesis, parents invest more in offspring of the sex that has the best reproductive prospects. We determined the sex differences in number of offspring, sex ratio of offspring, offspring survival and offspring weight in rich and poor households in a polygynous population.


METHODS
We studied a population of 28 994 individuals in Northern Ghana during an 8-year prospective follow-up. We determined the fertility rate for both men and women, sex ratio of 3511 newborn offspring and offspring survival in 16 632 offspring up to reproductive age (≤18 years). Also, we collected 9842 weight measurements of 1470 offspring up to the age of 3 years from growth charts of local clinics.


RESULTS
In rich households, men have a lifetime number of 6.0 offspring, while for women this was 3.1. In line with evolutionary predictions, the male:female sex ratio was higher in rich households (0.52; poor households 0.49), sons had lower mortality in rich households (hazard ratio male versus female 1.06, P = 0.64; poor households: hazard ratio male versus female 1.46, P = 0.01) and sons also had higher weights in rich households (P = 0.008).


CONCLUSIONS
In rich households, men have higher reproductive prospects in this polygynous society and, in line with Trivers-Willard, we registered more sons in rich households, sons had lower mortality and higher weights, maximizing the reproductive output in this society.
Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden; Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing, Poortgebouw LUMC, Rijnsburgerweg 10, 2333 AA Leiden; Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden; Amphia Hospital, Postbus 90157, 4800 RL Breda; Department of Sociology, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081HV Amsterdam; Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University, PO Box 309, 6700 AH Wageningen and Institute of Biology, Leiden University, PO Box 9505, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
David
D
van Bodegom
Maarten P
MP
Rozing
Linda
L
May
Hans J
HJ
Meij
Fleur
F
Thomése
Bas J
BJ
Zwaan
Rudi G J
RG
Westendorp
Africa; Trivers–Willard; offspring survival; offspring weight; reproduction; sex differences