Pollet Thomas V, Nettle Daniel
Evolution and Behaviour Research Group, Division of Psychology, Newcastle University, United Kingdom.
Am J Hum Biol. 2008 May-Jun;20(3):264-9. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.20708.
Previous research on the relationship between height and reproductive success in women has produced mixed results. One possible explanation for these is mediation by ecological factors, such as environmental stress. Here we investigate female height and reproductive success under conditions of environmental stress (poverty) using a large scale dataset from Guatemala (n = 2,571). Controlling for educational attainment, age and ethnicity, we examined relationships between height and childlessness, occurrence of a stillbirth, fertility and child survival. There was no significant relationship between height and never haven given birth. Extremely short women had a significantly raised likelihood of experiencing stillbirth. There were curvilinear relationships between height and age at first birth, fertility, and survival rates for children. Overall, though, the penalties for short stature, particularly in terms of child survival, were far greater than those associated with extreme tallness, and so female height is positively associated with overall fitness in this population.
先前关于女性身高与生殖成功率之间关系的研究结果不一。对此的一种可能解释是生态因素的调节作用，比如环境压力。在此，我们利用来自危地马拉的大规模数据集（n = 2571），研究在环境压力（贫困）条件下女性身高与生殖成功率的关系。在控制了教育程度、年龄和种族因素后，我们考察了身高与未生育、死产发生率、生育能力以及儿童存活率之间的关系。身高与从未生育之间没有显著关系。极矮的女性经历死产的可能性显著增加。身高与初育年龄、生育能力以及儿童存活率之间存在曲线关系。不过总体而言，身材矮小带来的不利影响，尤其是在儿童存活率方面，远大于身材极高带来的影响，因此在这一人群中女性身高与总体健康状况呈正相关。
