Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-11T20:12:05.692Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Toward a Theory of Human Multiple Birthing: Sociobiology and r/K Reproductive Strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

J. Philippe Rushton
J. Philippe Rushton*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
*
Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Using symbols from population biology, a continuum of reproductive strategies can be distinguished ranging from r, the production of large numbers of offspring provided with minimal care, to K, the production of few offspring nurtured intensively. While all humans are at the K end of the continuum, some are proposed to be more so than others. If multiple egg production is part of an r-reproductive strategy, certain facts may be ordered. Compared to mothers of singletons, for example, mothers of DZ twins nave a lower age of menarche, a shorter menstrual cycle, a higher number of marriages, a higher rate of coitus, more illegitimate children, a closer spacing of births, a greater fecundity, more wasted pregnancies, a larger family, an earlier menopause, and an earlier mortality. Further, all twins have a shorter gestation period, a lower birth weight, and a greater incidence of infant mortality, with DZ twins having a greater frequency of health disorders, a higher mortality rate, and a lower rate of enrollment in volunteer registries. Multiple birthing also occurs more frequently in families of lower than of higher social status, and in those of African than of European and especially than of Orientai descent.

Keywords

AltruismBehavior geneticsEvolutionFecundabilityLife-history analysisSexual behaviorTwins
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 289 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1987

References

REFERENCES

1.Allen, G (1981): The twinning and fertility paradox. In Gedda, L, Parisi, P, Nance, WE (eds): Twin Research 3: Pait A, Twin Biology and Multiple Pregnancy. New York: Alan R Liss.Google Scholar
2.Allen, G, Schachter, J (1971): Ease of conception in mothers of twins. Soc Biol 18:18–27.Google Scholar
3.Barash, DP (1982): Sociobiology and Behavior (2nd edition). New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
4.Bouchard, TJ Jr (1984): Twins reared together and apart: What they tell us about human diversity. In Fox, SW (ed): Individuality and Determinism. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
5.Bouchard, TJ JrMcGue, M (1981): Familial studies of intelligence: A review. Science 212:1055–1059.Google Scholar
6.Bulmer, MG (1959): The effect of parental age, parity and duration of marriage on the twinning rate. Ann. Hum Genet 23:454–458.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Bulmer, MG (1970): The Biology of Twinning in Man. Oxford; Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
8.Carmelli, D, Andersen, S (1981): A longevity study of twins in the Mormon genealogy. In Gedda, L, Parisi, P, Nance, WE (eds): Twin Research 3: Part A, Twin Biology and Multiple Pregnancy. New York: Alan R Liss.Google Scholar
9.Daly, M, Wilson, M (1983): Sex, Evolution and Behavior (2nd edition). Boston, Mass: Willard Grant Press.Google Scholar
10.Dawkins, R (1982): The Extended Phenotype. San Francisco, Calif: Freeman.Google Scholar
11.Eriksson, AW, Fellman, J (1967): Twinning and legitimacy. Hereditas 47:395–402.Google Scholar
12.Gedda, L, Rajani, G, Brenci, G, Lun, MT, Talone, C, Oddi, G (1984). Heredity and infectious diseases: A twin study. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:497–500.Google ScholarPubMed
13.Golding, J (1986): Social class and twinning. (Abstract). Acta Genet Med Gemellol 35:207.Google Scholar
14.Hrubec, Z, Floderus-Myrhed, B, de Faire, U, Sarna, S (1984): Familial factors in mortality with control of epidemiological covariables. Swedish twins born 1886-1925. Acta Gemet Med Gemell 33:403–412.Google ScholarPubMed
15.James, WH (1984): Coitus-induced ovulation and its implications for estimates of some reproductive parameters. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:547–555.Google Scholar
16.Johanson, DC, Edey, MA (1981): Lucy: The Beginnings of Human Kind. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
17.Kendler, KS, Holm, NV (1985): Differential enrollment in twin registries: Its effects on prevalence and concordance rates and estimates of genetic parameters. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 34:125–140.Google Scholar
18.Kendler, KS, Robinette, CD (1983): Schizophrenia in the National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council Twin Registry: A 16-year update. Am J Psychiatry, 140:1551–1563.Google ScholarPubMed
19.Lovejoy, CO (1981): The origin of man. Science 211:341–350.Google Scholar
20.Lykken, DT, Tellegan, A, DuRubeis R (1978): Volunteer bias in twin research: The rule of two-thirds. Soc Biol 25:1–9.Google Scholar
21.MacGillivray, I (1984): Presidential address: The Aberdeen contribution to twinning. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:5–11.Google Scholar
22.Martin, NG, Beami, JLE, Olsen, ME, Bhatnagar, AS, Macourt, D (1984): Gonadotropin levels in mothers who have had two sets of DZ twins. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:131–139.Google ScholarPubMed
23.Martin, NG, Eaves, LJ, Eysenck, HJ (1977): Genetical, environmental and personality factors influencing the age of first sexual intercourse in twins. J Biosoc Sci 9:91–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24.Martin, NG, Wilson, SR (1982): Bias in the estimation of heritability from truncated samples of twins. Behav Genet 12:467–472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25.Mednick, SA, Gabrielli, WF, Hutchings, B (1984): Genetic influences in criminal convictions: Evidence from an adoptive cohort. Science 224:891–894.Google Scholar
26.Nylander, PPS (1975): Frequency of multiple births. In MacGillivray, I, Nylander, PPS, Corney, G (eds): Human Multiple Reproduction. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders.Google Scholar
27.Nylander, PPS (1981): The factors that influence twinning rates. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 30: 189–202.Google Scholar
28.Omenn, GS (1977): Behavior genetics. In Birren, JE, Schaie, KW (eds): Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. New York: Van Nostrand and Reinhold.Google Scholar
29.Parisi, P, Caperna, G (1981): The changing incidence of twinning: One century of Italian statistics. In Gedda, L, Parisi, P, Nance, WE (eds): Twin Research 3: Part A, Twin Biology and Multiple Pregnancy. New York: AR Liss, pp 3548.Google Scholar
30.Parisi, P, Gatti, M, Prinzi, G, Caperna, G (1983): Familial incidence of twinning. Nature 304:626–628.Google Scholar
31.Pianka, ER (1970): On r- and K-selection. Am Naturalist 104:592–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32.Pollard, GN (1969): Multiple births in Australia, 1944-63. J Biosoc Sci 1:389–404.Google Scholar
33.Rushton, JP (1980): Altruism, Socialization, and Society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
34.Rushton, JP (1984): Sociobiology: Toward a theory of individual and group differences in personality and social behavior. In Royce, JR, Mos, LP (eds): Annals of Theoretical Psychology, Vol 2. New York: Plenum, pp 1–81.Google Scholar
35.Rushton, JP (1985): Differential K theory: The sociobiology of individual differences. Person Individ Diff 6:441–452.Google Scholar
36.Rushton, JP (1985): Differential K theory and race differences in E and N. Person Individ Diff 6:769–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37.Rushton, JP, Bogaert, AF (in press): Race differences in sexual behavior: Testing an evolutionary hypothesis. J Res Person.Google Scholar
38.Rushton, JP, Fulker, DW, Neale, MC, Nias, DKB, Eysenck, HJ (1986): Altruism and aggression: The heritability of individual differences. J Pers Soc Psychol 50:1192–1198.Google Scholar
39.Soma, H, Takayama, M, Kiyokawa, T, Akaeda, T, Tokoro, K (1975): Serum gonadotropin levels in Japanese women. Obstet Gynaecol 46:311–312.Google Scholar
40.Stunkard, AJ, Sorensen, TIA, Hanis, C, Teasdale, TW, Chakraborty, R, Schull, WJ, Schulsinger, F (1986): An adoption study of human obesity. New Engl J Med 314:193–198.Google Scholar
41.Webster, F, Elwood JM (1985): A study of the influence of ovulation stimulants and orai contraception on twin births in England. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 34:105–108.Google Scholar
42.Wilson, EO (1975): Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
43.Wilson, RS (1983): The Louisville Twin Study: Developmental synchronies in behavior. Child Dev 54:298–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
44.Wyshak, G (1978): Menopause in mothers of multiple births and mothers of singletons only. Soc Biol 25:52–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
45.Wyshak, G (1978): Statistical findings on the effects of fertility drugs on plural births. In Nance, WE (ed), Twin Research 2: Part B, Biology and Epidemiology. New York: Alan R Liss.Google Scholar
46.Wyshak, G (1981): Reproductive and menstrual characteristics of mothers of multiple births and mothers of singletons only: A discriminant analysis. In Gedda, L, Parisi, P, Nance, WE (eds): Twin Research 3: Part A, Twin Biology and Multiple Pregnancy, New York: Alan R Liss.Google Scholar
47.Wyshak, G (1984): Health characteristics of mothers of twins. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33: 141–145.Google Scholar