Grandmothers, Grandfathers and their Effects on Offspring Fertility and Survival: Evidence from Historic Utah, Quebec and Sweden Ken R. Smith1, 2 Lisa Dillon3

摘要: The grandmother hypothesis suggests that menopause may have arisen because aging mothers might increase their inclusive fitness by ceasing reproduction in favor of providing assistance to their already born daughters, increasing their daughters’ fertility and thus leaving more descendants surviving to reproductive maturity. The role of grandfathers has been given far less attention. Our team is using longitudinal data from the historic populations of Utah (1800-1900), the Quebec province (1680-1849), Saguenay (a region of Quebec)(1852-1911), and the Scanian Economic-Demographic Database (southern Sweden) to assess the effects on the fertility of offspring and their survival. In general, with initial results from Utah, using data for a large sample of Egos born during a period of little fertility control when strong preferences for larger families were common, we find evidence that is consistent with the “grandmother hypotheses.”