Hormonal Mechanisms of Grandmothering : The Coevolution of Physiology, Life History and Behavior.

IF 2.2 2区社会学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY

Human Nature-An Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective Pub Date : 2025-08-15 DOI:10.1007/s12110-025-09499-5

Natalie Dinsdale, Aiden Bushell, Bernard Crespi

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Abstract

The evolution of menopause, grandmothering and long lifespan represent key events in the evolution of human life history. Demographic studies have amply demonstated inclusive fitness benefits from grandmaternal care, but the hormonal bases of such care, and how it evolved in relation to other reproductive and demographic traits, have yet to be addressed in detail. We propose and evaluate a novel hypothesis for the coevolution and adaptive covariation of life history, physiology, and behavior among women in this context. The hypothesis centers on relatively low testosterone, which promotes: (1) earlier, higher fertility and fecundity, (2) earlier cessation of ovarian activity (leading to earlier grandmothering), and (3) enhanced alloparental care. The hypothesis can help to explain among-female variation in grandmaternal care, and potential trajectories for the concerted evolution of grandmothering, prolonged human lifespan, and associated life history traits. A suite of convergent evidence supports the hypothesis, and it makes new predictions that are straightforward to test.

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外祖母的荷尔蒙机制：生理、生活史和行为的共同进化。

更年期、祖母化和长寿的进化是人类生命进化史上的关键事件。人口统计学研究已经充分证明了祖母式护理对整体健康的好处，但这种护理的激素基础，以及它与其他生殖和人口统计学特征的关系如何演变，尚未得到详细解决。在此背景下，我们提出并评估了女性在生活史、生理和行为方面的共同进化和适应性共变的新假设。该假说的中心是相对较低的睾丸激素，它促进：(1)更早，更高的生育能力和生育能力，(2)卵巢活动更早停止（导致更早的祖母），以及(3)增强异体亲代照顾。这一假设可以帮助解释女性之间在祖母照顾方面的差异，以及祖母照顾、人类寿命延长和相关生活史特征协同进化的潜在轨迹。一组趋同的证据支持这一假设，并做出了新的预测，这些预测很容易验证。

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来源期刊

Human Nature-An Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective Multiple-

CiteScore

3.70

自引率

8.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Human Nature is dedicated to advancing the interdisciplinary investigation of the biological, social, and environmental factors that underlie human behavior. It focuses primarily on the functional unity in which these factors are continuously and mutually interactive. These include the evolutionary, biological, and sociological processes as they interact with human social behavior; the biological and demographic consequences of human history; the cross-cultural, cross-species, and historical perspectives on human behavior; and the relevance of a biosocial perspective to scientific, social, and policy issues.