Koepke Nikola, Floris Joël, Pfister Christian, Rühli Frank J, Staub Kaspar
Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Econ Hum Biol. 2018 May;29:76-87. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2018.02.002. Epub 2018 Feb 16.
When investigating the well-being of a society, the living conditions of females are of special importance, not only due to the immediate impact for those directly involved, but also because of the potential intergenerational effects. Studying the dimorphism in the mean height helps to depict variation in the basic biological sex difference due to gender-related factors that potentially determine net nutrition. To expand knowledge of diachronic development in Swiss well-being conditions we investigate changes in the height of adult females born 1770-1930, and compare the series with data on contemporary males from the same sources: We employ a sample of N = 21'028 women and N = 21'329 men from passport-, convict-, maternity hospital-, and voluntary World War II army auxiliary records. The secular height trend is found both in males, from the 1870s/1880s, and in females starting with the 1840s/1850s birth cohorts. During the decades under study, mean height increased from 157 cm to 164 cm in female and 167 cm to 172 cm in male passport applicants, 154 cm to 159 cm in female and 167 cm to 169 cm in male convicts, 159 cm to 163 cm in female auxiliaries, and 155 cm to 159 cm in females giving birth in the maternity hospital of Basel. Because females seem to have started the secular trend in height earlier than their male contemporaries, the height dimorphism decreased during the second half of the 19th century. Differences between socio-economic status (SES) and data sources are found in both females and males: Women with low SES were significantly shorter than those of the other SES groups in all sources (on average 1.40 cm, p-values between 0.00 and 0.03). In men we found individuals of upper SES to be significantly taller (on average 1.96 cm, p-value = 0.00-0.10). Concerning differences between the sources, overall, passport applicants were the tallest for men as well as women; in females the individuals measured at the maternity hospital and in prison were the shortest. The variances across the datasets highlight the importance of considering different sources to depict average living conditions. Noteworthy is the finding that the diverse sources under study all show the same trajectory of increasing mean height over the course of the 19th century. In the long run, the improving net nutritional status of Swiss females may have been one of the contributors behind the general rise in well-being of the country's population from the later 19th century onwards.
在研究一个社会的福祉时，女性的生活状况具有特殊重要性，这不仅是因为对直接相关者有直接影响，还因为可能存在代际效应。研究平均身高的性别差异有助于描绘由于可能决定净营养的性别相关因素导致的基本生物学性别差异的变化。为了扩展对瑞士福祉状况历时性发展的认识，我们调查了1770年至1930年出生的成年女性的身高变化，并将该系列数据与来自相同来源的当代男性数据进行比较：我们使用了来自护照、罪犯、妇产医院和二战志愿陆军辅助记录的样本，其中女性样本量为N = 21028，男性样本量为N = 21329。男性从19世纪70年代/80年代开始出现长期身高趋势，女性从19世纪40年代/50年代出生队列开始出现。在研究的几十年中，女性护照申请人的平均身高从157厘米增加到164厘米，男性从167厘米增加到172厘米；女性罪犯的平均身高从154厘米增加到159厘米，男性从167厘米增加到169厘米；女性辅助人员的平均身高从159厘米增加到163厘米；在巴塞尔妇产医院分娩的女性平均身高从155厘米增加到159厘米。由于女性似乎比同时代的男性更早开始出现长期身高趋势，19世纪下半叶身高差异减小。在女性和男性中都发现了社会经济地位（SES）和数据来源之间的差异：所有来源中，低SES的女性明显比其他SES组的女性矮（平均矮1.40厘米，p值在0.00至0.03之间）。在男性中，我们发现高SES的个体明显更高（平均高1.96厘米，p值 = 0.00 - 0.10）。关于不同来源之间的差异，总体而言，护照申请人无论男性还是女性都是最高的；在女性中，在妇产医院和监狱测量身高的个体是最矮的。各数据集的方差凸显了考虑不同来源以描绘平均生活条件的重要性。值得注意的是，研究中的各种来源都显示出19世纪期间平均身高呈相同的上升轨迹。从长远来看，瑞士女性净营养状况的改善可能是19世纪后期以来该国人口总体福祉上升的原因之一。
