American Journal of Human Biology最新文献

{"title":"The Maternal Capital Hypothesis: Giving Mothers Central Place in Evolutionary Perspectives on Developmental Plasticity and Health","authors":"Jonathan C. K. Wells","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70084","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The “developmental origins of health and disease” paradigm has revolutionized biomedical research and raised new questions in the public domain. Not only individual disease risk, but also population health inequalities, may be profoundly shaped by experience early in life. The maternal capital hypothesis, published in 2010, is an evolutionary conceptual framework for understanding developmental plasticity on an intergenerational time-scale. The central proposition is that societal adversities can become embodied in maternal phenotype, and hence undermine the health and life opportunities of their offspring. The offspring calibrates its early developmental trajectory to maternal phenotype, not to the external environment. The framework emphasizes societal stresses from which individual mothers cannot opt out, such as malnutrition, poverty, gender inequality, colonialism, racism, war, and interpersonal violence. Conversely, mothers with greater capital can better defend themselves against these stresses and buffer their offspring. In this commentary, I revisit why the hypothesis was developed and summarize how it has stimulated further work. I review evidence for the role of maternal phenotype in the intergenerational basis of health inequalities; theoretical issues that the hypothesis can help clarify; implications for policy and intergenerational justice; and experimental studies that show that promoting maternal capital can have health benefits for both mothers and offspring. There is no intention to blame mothers when arguing that maternal phenotype plays a unique role in intergenerational cycles of disadvantage. Rather, promoting maternal capital may not only improve maternal and child health, but also combat gender and racial inequality.</p>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.70084","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144315314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated (FTO) Gene (rs9939609) Polymorphism and Metabolic Syndrome: A Study Among Two Rural Communities of Assam, Northeast India Having Different Ancestry","authors":"Ananya Jyoti Gogoi,&nbsp;Chandana Sarmah,&nbsp;Prasanta Kumar Borah","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70083","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Introduction</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a group of related physio-biochemical factors that greatly increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and overall mortality. The physio-biochemical factors associated with MS have been previously found to have a genetic basis. Recently, the Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated (FTO) gene has been found to have a significant role in obesity.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objective</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>To determine the association of FTO gene rs9939609 polymorphism with MS in two rural communities of Assam, Northeast India, having different ancestry.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted among unrelated adult male and female individuals of the Mising and Ahom communities of Dhemaji district, Assam. Genotyping for the FTO gene's rs9939609 polymorphism was performed on a subset of participants. Individuals with MS were cases, while controls were randomly chosen from those without MS. Participants were categorized into AA and TA/TT groups. The chi-square test was utilized to assess whether there is any significant difference in the distributions of various categorical variables across the FTO rs9939609 gene variants (AA and TT/TA). Logistic regression was conducted to assess the relationship between the FTO rs9939609 SNP and the risk of MS. All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Individuals with the AA genotype were found to have significantly higher odds of developing MS than those with TA or TT genotypes, after adjusting for all sociodemographic, behavioral, physiological, biochemical, anthropometric, and body composition measures.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The present study indicated that variations within the FTO locus (specifically rs9939609) were associated with MS and its components among the Mising and Ahom communities.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144300301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Avoiding “Too Tall” and “Too Short”: The Effect of the Community on the Regulation of Body Height","authors":"Michael Hermanussen,&nbsp;Christian Aßmann,&nbsp;Christiane Scheffler","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70085","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Background</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Recent evidence emphasizes the role of social signaling in the regulation of human growth.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Aim</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>To disentangle the influence of physical living conditions such as wealth, health, nutrition, and education from influences that are transmitted among members of the social group.</p>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We consider the spectrum of all historically possible heights (“transgenerational growth potential”) and disentangle the influence of the physical living conditions from influences that are transmitted among members of the same social group. We ask (1) what is the magnitude of the “transgenerational growth potential”? and (2) to what extent narrows this potential upon entering a specific historic community?</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Samples and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We report on the height of more than 14 million German conscripts and recruits born between 1865 and 1975.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Between the late 19th and the late 20th centuries, mean male height increased from 165.8 cm (SD 6.5 cm) to 180.1 cm (SD 7.0 cm). The skewness of the height distribution was always close to zero. Height was statistically associated with living conditions, but the association disappeared when linking characteristics of the within population distribution of height with the disparity of living conditions and economic inequality. Mean height of the social community is a strong attractor of individual height and reduces the “transgenerational growth potential” by more than 50%.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Strong effects of the social community outweigh the effect of individual living conditions and substantially narrow the transgenerational growth potential, to protect against being “too tall” or “too short” within the social community.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.70085","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144264565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physical Activity Levels Among Elderly Residents in Small Remote Islands in Japan","authors":"Satoko Kosaka,&nbsp;Mayumi Ohnishi,&nbsp;Ryoko Kawasaki,&nbsp;Masahiro Umezaki,&nbsp;Rieko Nakao","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70089","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study quantified the physical activity of older residents of two small remote Japanese islands and identified associated factors. A questionnaire survey and accelerometer measurements collected data from 79 participants aged ≥ 65 years on Kabashima and Hisakajima Islands in May–June 2024. The median daily step count was 4555, similar to or higher than national averages. Significant associations were found between physical activity levels and age, living alone, car ownership, frequency of going out, and self-rated health. The smallest community had the highest median step count. There was substantial day-to-day variation in individual activity levels. Despite lacking environmental factors that earlier studies have identified as promoting physical activity, the residents' activity levels were higher than mainland averages, suggesting that relationships between neighborhood environment and physical activity are dependent on the context of populations. Possible explanations for the physical activity of our study participants include health-conscious behaviors of older islanders, unique environmental factors on small islands promoting activity, self-selection to live in an environment that requires physical activity, selection bias toward more active individuals, or the possibility that only those who are able to maintain island residence currently live there. Further longer-term research should examine intra-individual variation and elucidate factors influencing physical activity on small remote islands.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144273303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sociodemographic Characteristics Associated With Food-Insecure Households With Preschool and School Children: Findings From the ObesInCrisis Study","authors":"Maria-Raquel G. Silva,&nbsp;Daniela Rodrigues,&nbsp;Aristides M. Machado-Rodrigues,&nbsp;Helena Nogueira,&nbsp;Augusta Gama,&nbsp;Cristina Padez","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70080","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objective</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Following the last global economic crisis, Europe imposed austerity policies with significant influence on the households' food security. This study aimed to examine the characteristics of food-insecure households with children with normal body weight and overweight/obesity with other sociodemographic and family characteristics, following the last world financial crisis.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted with 4737 children living in Portugal. Household food insecurity was assessed using the Household Food Insecurity Scale. Children's nutritional status and sociodemographic indicators were measured.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Our results showed that 13.2% of children were living in food-insecure households, from which 25.5% were overweight/obesity. Food-insecure households were more likely to include children at school age (OR = 1.195, 95% CI: 1.008–1.416), females (OR = 1.245, 95% CI: 1.051–1.476) and living in the district of Lisbon (OR = 1.369, 95% CI: 1.130–1.659), compared to those from food-secure households. HFI was associated with having parents under 40 years old (fathers: OR = 1.321, 95% CI: 1.104–1.581 and mothers: OR = 1.362, 95% CI: 1.141–1.627), fathers with low and medium levels of education (OR = 5.967, 95% CI: 4.584–7.767 and OR = 2.666, 95% CI: 2.050–3.467, respectively), as well as mothers' low and medium education (OR = 5.083, 95% CI: 3.982–6.488 and OR = 3.202, 95% CI: 2.599–3.945, respectively), and not working fathers (OR = 3.160, 95% CI: 2.415–4.317) or mothers (OR = 2.706, 95% CI: 2.197–3.332). After adjustments, only the association with the paternal age lost its statistical significance. No other significant associations were observed in other household sociodemographic components.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>It should be recognized the need for socioeconomic interventions to empower women and close the gender gap between female- and male-headed households.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144244411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Relationship Between Type of Delivery and Growth Trajectory in the First Year of Life: The Araraquara Cohort Study","authors":"Roseanne de Sousa Nobre,&nbsp;Paula Louro Silva,&nbsp;Letícia Falcão de Carvalho,&nbsp;Jéssica Lana Sales Lacerda,&nbsp;Lívia Patrícia Rodrigues Batista,&nbsp;Tamiris Ramos-Silva,&nbsp;Natália Pinheiro-Castro,&nbsp;Liania Alves Luzia,&nbsp;Patrícia Helen de Carvalho Rondó","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70075","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Objective</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The relationship between cesarean delivery and infant growth is controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the type of delivery and the growth trajectory of Brazilian infants in the first year of life.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This was a prospective cohort study conducted between 2016 and 2021 as part of the Araraquara Cohort Study that assessed quarterly anthropometry of 719 and 667 infants to evaluate, respectively, the effects of type of delivery on weight gain velocity (WGV) and length gain velocity (LGV) using generalized estimating equations.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The type of delivery was not associated with WGV or LGV in the first year of life. Higher mean WGV was observed among infants born to mothers with higher education, male infants, formula-fed infants, and those with the lowest birth weight, while infants with diarrhea had lower mean WGV. Higher mean LGV was found among formula-fed infants and infants born to taller mothers, while infants with the highest length at birth had lower LGV.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The factors that explain WGV and LGV in this population are more closely related to maternal characteristics such as height and educational attainment, birth characteristics, feeding behavior, and morbidity than to the type of delivery.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.70075","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144244410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Association Between 24-h Movement Behavior, Physical Fitness, and Inhibitory Control in School Adolescents: A Complex Network Analysis","authors":"Rafael Santos dos Cruz,&nbsp;Ana Clara Cassimiro Nunes,&nbsp;João Paulo Rodrigues dos Santos,&nbsp;Vagner Deuel de O. Tavares,&nbsp;Isabela Almeida Ramos,&nbsp;André Igor Fonteles,&nbsp;Paulo Felipe Ribeiro Bandeira,&nbsp;Clarice Maria Lucena de Martins,&nbsp;Rodrigo Alberto Vieira Browne","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70082","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Purpose</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>To investigate the interrelationships between 24-h movement behaviors, health-related physical fitness, and inhibitory control performance in adolescents.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This cross-sectional study included 216 Brazilian adolescents (aged 16.7 ± 1.2 years) from a federal public school. Movement behaviors—moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), smartphone screen time, sleep duration, and excessive daytime sleepiness—were assessed using the Global School-based Student Health Survey, digital well-being tools, and the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale. Aerobic capacity was measured using the PACER test, muscular strength by the FitnessGram push-up test, and body composition through body mass index. Inhibitory control was assessed using the Flanker task (E-Prime v3.0). Separate network analyses were performed for congruent and incongruent reaction times (RT).</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Physically active adolescents had faster RTs than their insufficiently active peers, with physical activity negatively associated with RT in both the congruent (−0.116) and incongruent (−0.125) networks. Aerobic capacity (e.g., expected influence: 0.879–0.902) and muscular strength (expected influence: 1.360–1.384) appeared as central components in both network structures. However, no associations were found between sleep duration, screen time, or excessive daytime sleepiness and inhibitory control.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Adherence to MVPA guidelines was directly associated with improved inhibitory control performance among adolescents. Health-related physical fitness, particularly aerobic capacity and muscular strength, was indirectly associated with inhibitory control. Other movement behaviors were not associated with cognitive performance in this sample.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.70082","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144232339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Revisiting Consanguinity and Fertility in Pakistan: Comment on Saleem et al. (2025)","authors":"Ho-Fang Hsueh,&nbsp;Lien-Chung Wei","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70081","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144213872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neighborhood Histories: White Flight Associated With Poor Health in Phoenix, Arizona","authors":"Audrey Dervarics,&nbsp;Deirdre Pfeiffer,&nbsp;Robin G. Nelson","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70065","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Neighborhoods and the built environment play a vital role in determining our health. But the majority of studies uncovering this relationship are cross-sectional, which can belie the fact that neighborhoods are shaped by historical processes over decades. In this study, we use white flight, the departure of white residents from an area, as our historical anchor to understand associations between current health outcomes and the histories of neighborhoods in Phoenix, Arizona. Given the link between white flight and investment trajectories and resources across a city, we posit it as a fundamental cause of past and present poor health and a detrimental health exposure. Using census data from 1980 to 2020, we assessed white flight's tie to economic and housing outcomes through Difference in Difference models and white flight's connection with a range of health outcomes through cluster regression models, grouped by spatial area. Census tracts that experienced white flight had significantly worse outcomes for median income, house value, and gross rent. Individuals living in areas with white flight had worse general wellbeing, less leisure-time physical activity, and higher chronic disease-related outcomes than those living in areas without white flight. Furthermore, individuals living in tracts that experienced white flight earlier had significantly higher rates of poor health. The compounding disadvantage of white flight has critical impacts on the health and wealth of neighborhoods; more studies need to focus on the historical and longitudinal histories of neighborhoods in order to understand the complicated associations between racial health disparities and place.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144206486","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Contribution of the Distal Limbs to Height and Proportions in Different Socioeconomic Groups","authors":"Gamze Hayırsever,&nbsp;Yılmaz Selim Erdal","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70078","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70078","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Background</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The distal limbs (radius/ulna and tibia/fibula) are known to exhibit greater plasticity to external factors than the proximal limbs. However, the specific ways in which various factors influence the distal limbs, and the methods to assess the degree of their impact, remain insufficiently explored.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Aim</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study aimed to investigate how the body parts of adults who grew up under varying social, economic conditions, and physical stress adapt to these factors. Additionally, it sought to determine the role of the distal limbs in body proportions under different environmental conditions.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Subjects and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>An anthropometric survey was conducted in Samsun, Turkey, involving 623 individuals (304 females and 319 males) aged 20–45 years. To examine the effects of socioeconomic structure and physical stress, the sample was categorized into three groups: an upper socioeconomic status group (<i>n</i>:202), a lower socioeconomic non-working group (<i>n</i>:210) and a lower socioeconomic heavy working group (<i>n</i>:211). One-way ANOVA was conducted to analyze intergroup differences, while Model 4 of the SPSS Macro Mediation Analysis (Bootstrap Method) was used to assess the contribution of distal limb measurements to upper and lower body segments.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Socioeconomic differences in height were significant (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). Tibia length was greater in the high socioeconomic group but shorter in the heavy working and non-heavy working groups. The contribution of forearm length showed more significant variation between the different groups, particularly in the heavy working group.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The study found that socioeconomic factors and physical stress influence distal limb development. While stress suppresses tibial growth, it promotes forearm length, emphasizing the role of forearm length in body proportions.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.70078","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144191006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}