Queens College and CUNY Institute for Demographic Research, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Jul 22;279(1739):2883-90. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0320. Epub 2012 Mar 28.
The current study examined the long-term trend in sex ratio at birth between 1929 and 1982 using retrospective birth histories of 310 101 Chinese women collected in a large, nationally representative sample survey in 1982. The study identified an abrupt decline in sex ratio at birth between April 1960, over a year after the Great Leap Forward Famine began, and October 1963, approximately 2 years after the famine ended, followed by a compensatory rise between October 1963 and July 1965. These findings support the adaptive sex ratio adjustment hypothesis that mothers in good condition are more likely to give birth to sons, whereas mothers in poor condition are more likely to give birth to daughters. In addition, these findings help explain the lack of consistent evidence reported by earlier studies based on the 1944-1945 Dutch Hunger Winter or the 1942 Leningrad Siege.
本研究使用 1982 年大规模全国代表性抽样调查中收集的 310101 名中国妇女的回顾性生育史，考察了 1929 年至 1982 年期间出生性别比的长期趋势。研究发现，1960 年 4 月（大跃进饥荒开始一年多后）至 1963 年 10 月（饥荒结束后约 2 年）期间，出生性别比突然下降，随后在 1963 年 10 月至 1965 年 7 月期间出现补偿性上升。这些发现支持了适应性性别比调整假说，即身体状况良好的母亲更有可能生育男孩，而身体状况较差的母亲更有可能生育女孩。此外，这些发现有助于解释基于 1944-1945 年荷兰饥荒或 1942 年列宁格勒围城的早期研究报告缺乏一致证据的现象。
